To the Editor:

While campaigning for the Feb. 23 Republican primary, incumbent Grafton Township Assessor Alan Zielinski continues to tout a faulty assessment process called “sales chasing.” This leads to uneven assessments and thus unfair tax bills for its residents.

This kind of poor judgment also demonstrates why he should be voted out.

Zielinski recently said, “Our office is somewhat unique in its use of the market approach to value. That uses the recent sale prices of properties to establish their fair cash value for assessment purposes. The market informs us of the value of a property as established by an arms-length sales transaction.”

Assessors are not supposed to do that. That is called sales chasing. They must do all homes by mass appraisal so that homes are evenly assessed for tax purposes. Note the statement from International Association of Assessing officers Standard on Property Tax Policy, Section 4.1.1.3:

“Sales chasing is the practice of using the sale of a property to trigger a reappraisal of that property at or near the selling price. Sales chasing … causes invalid appraisal level results unless similar unsold parcels are reappraised by a method that produces the same percentage of market value. Further, unless similar unsold parcels are reappraised at the same level as sold parcels, sales chasing causes inequitable treatment of taxpayers by shifting the tax burden to taxpayers who have recently purchased property.”

And the taxing inequities from sales chasing are clear in Grafton.

One example is how two neighboring ranch homes of similar size and age were valued with a $93,000 difference in fair cash value by Zielinski. The reason? One sold recently at much higher value than what the assessor’s calculation would have been. The tax bill for the “sales-chased” home would have been $2,700 higher than its neighbor if the owner didn’t successfully appeal it down.

Another egregious example is a lakefront ranch home that is valued close to $498,000.

Zielinski valued this home $57,000 more than his own lakefront address, despite it being located on the same lake. Zielinski should be voted out on Feb. 23.

John Mueller

Grafton Township