Dear Editor,
We (my father) bought our home in 1965. It was transferred to me (he died a few years ago) and I’m now 70 years old. By all current standards I am now a senior.
A few weeks ago, Maricopa County Assessor/Treasurer sent me a house tax ALMOST DOUBLING my previous few years rate, claiming I no longer qualified for “Senior Valuation.”
I haven’t gotten younger in the last few years and my only income still is Social Security and a small Veteran’s disability payment. That income was increased by 1% a couple years ago due to COLA. As any of you who live on a below poverty minuscule fixed income, every penny counts. If an expense goes up in one place you have to cut it somewhere else (like food, utility, etc.).
I called and talked to the Assessor’s office. They said they had not received my “updated” application to renew the Senior Valuation and are therefore increasing it…. almost doubling it. Too bad, so sad.
I searched my files and found a copy of what I had sent them. I faxed it to them and they then said it does not serve as proof since the original was not sent in “Certified Mail” or had I gone into the Assessor’s office and got a receipt. Who does that? How many fill out an application and then go to the Post Office, and pay to send it Certified Mail. Where does it say to send it Certified Mail … it doesn’t.
Interesting that the copies I sent contain date stamps from Social Security and the Veterans Department on the faxes from them verifying my income – both are ahead of the date on the application which is prior to their deadline. Maricopa Assessor will not accept. It’s their own application.
Is the Post Office at fault? Or has the Maricopa Assessor/Treasurer misplaced the original filing?
The answer to this is that the Maricopa Assessor/Treasurer is forcing a senior, a veteran, a person who has not missed a tax payment in 50 years to lose their home. I cannot afford their almost doubling of my home taxes and will therefore be forced to sell. Then what?
How many other seniors has this bureaucracy made homeless?
By way of disclosure, I have someplace to go, fortunately. Nevertheless, I am being forced to go by this bureaucracy. Where do those go that have no where else?
Duane Loftus
Maricopa County