Vote Yes on recall

Dear Editor,

I have successfully carried a petition in Hitchcock County to recall Marlene Bedore, Hitchcock County Assessor. Marlene has almost from the beginning of her term, been on a watch list by the Nebraska Department of Revenue Property Tax Division. In August 2015, only seven months after taking her oath of office, the state tax assessor Ruth Sorensen, in a meeting with the Hitchcock County Commissioners "the county assessor has not been able to give us the methodology . and comparables. as to why the county is disequalized." Sorensen said she began hearing concerns about

Bedore's property values in May and has been gathering information since.

At the same hearing Sorensen questioned Bedore about her decision to lower Trenton valuations by 15 percent on average. Sorensen questioned why Bedore didn't include two "low-dollar sales" in her evaluation.

At various points in the meeting, Sorensen said, "We're not getting clear answers" and " I know facts that aren't coming through."

At the same meeting, Sorensen also suggested Bedore improperly lowered values for land in Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) by using 2009 sales which she said were too old and added that going back that far is a violation. Bedore valued CREP land at $2000 an acre, but Sorensen ticked off a list of three sales including two sales that went for $4500 and $5400 per acre.

The Department of Revenue recommended the county place Bedore on probation for a year and require the assessor to take 14 measures during her probation to correct the violation.

Now in 2016 -- The Nebraska Department of Revenue Property Tax Administrator has continued the investigation. In the 2016 reports and opinions of Hitchcock County dated April 8, 2016 and signed by Ruth Sorensen Property Tax Administrator, Hitchcock County does not meet generally accepted mass appraisal practices in Residential Real Property, Commercial Real Property or Agricultural Land. The assessor has made hundreds of changes to quality, condition and building type and no uniform method was used in making these changes. These practices have resulted in Hitchcock County not having uniform and proportionate values. The assessor has violated statutes, regulations and directives.

More recently, Marlene has spent two days at hearings in Lincoln as a result of a petition filed by the Department of Revenue seeking an order to implement corrective measurers to the assessment practices of Hitchcock County and further for the tax commissioner to consider the suspension of her license.

Now, I know that when you get tax breaks, it is difficult to vote against the person who gave them to you. I also know that there is a right and a wrong. What Marlene has done to values in Hitchcock County is wrong. What one person doesn't have to pay, someone else has to make up the difference.

I have not carried this petition because I think I personally am being unfairly treated, but because of the unfairness I have seen in valuations across the entire county.

I would request that you would give this further thought and vote YES to recall Marlene Bedore as Assessor.

Thanks.

Frank Stehno

Stratton, Neb.