2019 Flood damage still burdens communities
During the early morning hours of June 7, 2019, I was shocked as a wall of water poured into my home.
This event not only destroyed many of our unreplaceable family keepsakes and cost us many thousands of dollars in repair cost, but it also destroyed our peace of mind and stole our pride of ownership because it tainted our home forever.
Our home will forever carry the blemish of being flooded.
Never again, because of the flood, will our home be worth what comparable homes around us are.
Through the months all 191 of us in Germantown were all dealing with cleaning and repairing the damage the flood caused. Representatives of the Shelby County Tax Assessor met with us on several occasions at the Shady Creek Club House and other locations in the area.
They notified us that we would be required by law to make any potential buyer aware that our homes had been flooded. As a result of the flood they acquiesced to the fact that our homes would never again be assessed as much as comparable homes in the area.
No informed buyer would be willing to pay the same for our home as one which was never flooded.
It appears the Shelby County Tax Assessor has reneged on this promise. They appear to have forgotten that our homes were flooded and as a result should carry an appraisal of only a fraction of comparable homes in the area.
This is likely due to newly elected and management changes at the Shelby County Tax Assessor’s office and they seem to be deaf to us concerning this issue. I recently received a new appraisal that did not reflect the fact that my property was flooded at all.
On top of this unfair and unwarranted rate, we have been informed that reassessments will take place more often in the future to account for growing property values. It is strange that a few years back when the housing market tanked, our appraisals remained the same rather than going down in line with home values declining.
Shelby County Assessor of Property is an elected position which should serve the interest of the citizens; however, its major aim appears to be focused on sticking their hands deeper into our pockets. As we all know, there is no amount of money that government cannot find a way to spend.
What I am seeing from the current Shelby County Tax Assessor’s office echoes the SCHD prior to the state taking away COVID-19 distribution from them and handing it over to people who could better serve the citizens of Shelby County.
Robert B. White, Germantown