Property Assessments Going Vertical

Editor,

I came to Downieville in 1980 when I worked with Tom & Carolyn Dobbs on the 2nd Divide Pauley Creek Claim, finding my first gold. The same year they helped a friend of mine getting a Placer claim which I could later work.

I went back to the Bay Area — San Francisco and San Jose — to become and work as an independent US registered Commodity Trading Advisor, giving trading seminars to individuals in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and California. I was among the best Commodity Futures traders nationwide, with verifiable results published in the Wall Street Journal and Barons, however the pace of life was too fast.

I longed for the beauty, peace and tranquility of Sierra County and Downieville and I wanted to stay here whatever it took.

Having had some restaurant experience from way back home in Germany, where my dad managed a Bowling Alley Restaurant - I went to Hillary (Ontiveros, I think was her last name) at the Quartz Cafe to get a job. To my surprise I got it. The reward: Minimum Wage $4.00/hr plus tip share.

From then on I worked in all restaurants continuously up until retirement. In the late 90’s I saw a chance to buy some low-key property that I could afford - I took it. I sacrificed a lot, giving up smoking, giving up drinking, not doing drugs, and did not dine out outside of the restaurants I was working in. In 2002 I bought the land on which I had already purchased 2 mobile homes on River Street, and things fell into place. My life was perfect, or was it?

The Assessor’s Office came into play, trashing the value of my land down by 50%, holding it there artificially in a small range for about 13 years. Suddenly, last year the property value shot up by 75%, making me scratch my head. And in 2023 it SHOT UP BY 180% as compared to 2 years ago. That’s what you call a “WOW-ser.”

Having lived, paid taxes, and been college educated with 5 years of German Law School, Russian/Spanish languages studies, and a Letterpress/Offset printer by trade, I know numbers & customs in three different countries on 2 continents. However - the DVL property assessment increase did not make ANY sense at all.

That is - it didn’t make sense until I saw the article written by this newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Ryan Steinwert, titled “Maddox Wants More Money,” MM Vol. 171, No. 25, November 22, 2023.

Now things were falling into place. It looks like a “reversed Robin Hood” play has been enacted which seems to be transferring money from the poor to the rich or robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“Don’t be silly” you might say. But look at the facts: in the smallest county of California with a total tax base population of only 3,217 this Tax Collector/Auditor wants to get a raise to $175,000 per annum (total over $200,000 w. benefits). As such he would make more money than an elected US senator in Washington, D.C. overseeing the affairs of 334 million American citizens and residents.

This is insane and would/could/should lead to a rebellion of the American people as soon as they wake up from their consumerism and (anti) social media induced trance.

Coming from Europe I have seen countries collapse within weeks of being faced with angry and hostile demonstrators. Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and finally the huge “Soviet Union” went up in flames.

I wished I had an answer to all the problems facing us. There may be different solutions if we stay cooperative and open-minded. But raising property valuations by up to 180% for low income residents to give it to a not-value-producing tax collector in the $175,000 - $200,000+ range obviously amounts to saddling the horse from the wrong side (Tax Collector - “get out of dodge”).

I’ve reason to believe that other property owners are in the same boat as I am. Please let me know, pro or con. Thank you!

Wolfgang Franke

Downieville