Thank God for Building Permits

Oh my goodness, where would we be without the city government to protect us (which is what they assert is the purpose of building permits)?  The ongoing saga of our RV shelter has yet another chapter.  First they charge us a substantial permit fee to put up a pre-fab metal shelter that will house nothing but an RV.  They base that fee on what they perceive the value of the shelter to be and charge us accordingly.  The permitting office valued our shelter at more than twice what we actually paid for it.

Now comes the REAL reason for issuing permits...the county tax assessor paid us a visit today.  Seems the value of our property is greatly enhanced by having a large metal shed in the middle of our driveway.  Guess it doesn't matter that the shed actually decreases the use of the formerly large and open driveway.  Yeah, it bugs me but I have a feeling we will be contesting our tax bill next November.  In Oregon, property taxes are supposedly limited to a certain percentage of the tax assessed value and that percentage cannot be increased.  That is all well and good except the taxes just keep going up because the value of the property keeps going up - even in a VERY DOWN market.  If I could get someone to pay me what is listed as the value of my home on my tax bill, I would sell this place today.

Okay, enough of the rant.  What I really need is to get out of here and see some new sights and quit fretting about taxes!  Someday soon, Therapy will be finished and we will hit the road.  I can hardly wait.


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