tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post568576688720589881..comments2023-10-26T04:53:21.986-05:00Comments on <a href="http://huckupchuck.blogspot.com">The Huck Upchuck</a>: Incompetence of Nancy Marshall, the IQ (I Quit) AssessorHuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15878450464298055466noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-82872059063955547832007-08-14T13:48:00.000-05:002007-08-14T13:48:00.000-05:00schroeder - That, my friend, is a very sensible pr...schroeder - That, my friend, is a very sensible proposition. One would think that an assessor elected from the IQ ticket would have done precisely what you suggest. I remember reading in a recent Times-Picayune article where Nancy Marshall, when asked about the appeals process and the people she was meeting regarding appeals, said something like, "well, they all seem to have very good reasons for revising their assessment." Of course they do. We all do. And this implies that all it takes is a sour face and an appointment with Nancy Marshall and one can get his/her assessment readjusted downward to "comfortable" levels again.Huckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878450464298055466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-31903894180200173572007-08-14T11:19:00.000-05:002007-08-14T11:19:00.000-05:00Here again, transparency is needed to demonstrate ...Here again, transparency is needed to demonstrate to citizens how the assessments were done (what formula, software, data), and that are being made equitably. <BR/><BR/>I'm suspicious about the appeals process. Certainly people should have a right to appeal, but how those appeals are made relative to the assessment formula should be an open book as well.<BR/><BR/>There's my gripe. If everything were out in the open from the get-go, people would have known where they stand, and have a basis for disputing some of the underlying assumptions and calculations.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-87898819104982445452007-08-14T01:34:00.000-05:002007-08-14T01:34:00.000-05:00You're welcome, oyster. But, in fact, it is I who...You're welcome, oyster. But, in fact, it is I who should be thanking you profusely for visiting my blog and leaving comments! So, thanks! Keep up the great work at YRHT. I read you almost daily. I'm looking forward hopefully, if I can make it, to meeting you at the Rising Tide conference, too.Huckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878450464298055466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-76408097718540199322007-08-13T22:34:00.000-05:002007-08-13T22:34:00.000-05:00Hey, thanks for the response, I appreciate it.Hey, thanks for the response, I appreciate it.oysterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05834991774263046373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-90122524391855297552007-08-13T19:15:00.000-05:002007-08-13T19:15:00.000-05:00On second reading, I'm not sure I completely answe...On second reading, I'm not sure I completely answered your questions. Perhaps in relative terms, Nancy Marshall might be better than her predecessors. Might be. But that's not saying much, is it? <BR/><BR/>Her track record so far, at least in terms of the "revised" assessment of my property within a two week period, which is all I have to go on, makes me wonder.Huckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878450464298055466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-9891411846639495222007-08-13T19:07:00.000-05:002007-08-13T19:07:00.000-05:00That's a very fair question. I think Coman and hi...That's a very fair question. I think Coman and his mother were equally incompetent. I didn't mention this in my posting, but I fully support the consolidation of the assessors and a radical reform of the way business was being conducted. I was someone whose house was being assessed at fair market value while my neighbors, who have much bigger homes and lots, valued in the 350K plus range, were assessed sometimes even below the homestead exemption. I didn't like the inequity in the system and I desperately wanted reform. And, moreover, I find the family cronyism that characterized the way the Assessors offices were held to be very distasteful.<BR/><BR/>But, just because I had a problem with what was there and how the offices functioned didn't translate to a protest vote for people whose abilities to do fair and equitable assessments I had little confidence in.<BR/><BR/>At one level, the frustrations with the system that propelled the IQ ticket, in the sense of wanting to reform it, I sympathized with. But I thought the methods they employed and the cynicism with which they sought to undermine the process we had in place to effect reform were wrong. Good intentions, but wrongheaded way to realize them.<BR/><BR/>I would much rather have had someone reform-minded, but also competent and knowledgable about the job and the real estate valuation and assessment process, as my assessor.<BR/><BR/>And I do believe that whatever mistakes led to my receiving two different assessments within a two week period might be attributable not to Nancy Marshall's good intentions, but to her finding herself in a job for which she is unqualified and in which she might be over her head. And I fear that her being in over her head might lead her to "go soft" on those who become very loud squeaky wheels about these current re-assessments.Huckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878450464298055466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-81149137565133185332007-08-13T16:19:00.000-05:002007-08-13T16:19:00.000-05:00Fine, Huck. I'm curious. How would you rate, in re...Fine, Huck. <BR/><BR/>I'm curious. How would you rate, in relative terms, Marshall's competence level to that of her predecessors and the "work" they did pre-2007?oysterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05834991774263046373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-32359207491290524692007-08-13T14:03:00.000-05:002007-08-13T14:03:00.000-05:00Also, Oyster, part of the IQ platform, as you note...Also, Oyster, part of the IQ platform, as you note above, says this: "If not all of the IQ team is elected, we will use that portion of the funds we control in our districts to properly assess the parcels."<BR/><BR/>At least in terms of the assessment of my property, I can't say, based on the two divergent assessments that I received within a two week period, that the funds Nancy Marshall controls in her district are being used "to properly assess the parcels."Huckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878450464298055466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-85761524831358336062007-08-13T13:51:00.000-05:002007-08-13T13:51:00.000-05:00Oyster - Thanks for the clarification. If I am mi...Oyster - Thanks for the clarification. If I am mistaken about the IQ platform and what they meant by their "I quit" slogan(which apparently I was), I am sure that I am not alone. One does not go around fashioning a movement whose mantra is one of quitting. That is not, in my mind, a very smart way of advocating reform. I think it is a very cynical way of advocating reform.<BR/><BR/>In any event, the general message of the "I Quit" ticket was never that the candidates were running on the basis of qualifications for the job. And I still have problems with that approach to democratic politics.<BR/><BR/>The fact that I received two such divergent assessments within a two week period simply reinforces the notion that Nancy Marshall is incompetent. I mean, really, what in the world outside of incompetence could explain this? For all I know, Nancy Marshall could have issued another "REVISED" assessment that would appear to be just as random in how it is calculated as the other two. In the past, the IQ ticket supporters would have taken this kind of thing as evidence of the incompetence of an assessor.<BR/><BR/>So, while I may have misunderstood how the IQ ticket defined what it meant to "quit," I still wish that Nancy Marshall would have "quit" in the normal and traditional understanding of that term.Huckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878450464298055466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704399.post-57665298072475457062007-08-13T00:45:00.000-05:002007-08-13T00:45:00.000-05:00Here's a quote from the IQ ticket campaign platfor...Here's a quote from the IQ ticket campaign platform:<BR/><BR/>"I QUIT " means, 'We are going to work ourselves out of a job.' "I QUIT" means " I quit politics as usual". It does not mean " I quit once elected." We will serve until such time as the legislature consolidates the seven assessors. We will serve without pay, using the $5,277,000 that the current assessors have available to actually appraise Orleans' properties. If not all of the IQ team is elected, we will use that portion of the funds we control in our districts to properly assess the parcels.oysterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05834991774263046373noreply@blogger.com