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Home > Blogs > West Chester News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > September > 26 > Entry
Stoker: Auditor should ‘show some backbone’
UPDATE TWO: Poster “Don Carpenter” is correct. A little digging showed West Chester Twp. Trustee Catherine Stoker contributed $50 to Butler County Auditor Candidate Jack Zettler’s campaign in 2006. (The deadline for this year’s finance reports is Oct. 23.) A little more digging shows “Don Carpenter” contributed $35 to Roger Reynolds Campaign this summer.
UPDATE: Good catch poster “Don Carpenter.” Those items made it in the print version that will appear this weekend. Must have updated an earlier version.
Some might lament the cliche about horses and gifts when Trustee Catherine Stoker showed Tuesday, Sept. 23, that she wasn’t all that impressed by Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds’ rebate to township coffers.
But Stoker, a Democrat, said after the meeting that Republican Roger Reynolds’ visit Tuesday was little more than a move to garner votes for his upcoming election bid.
As part of his announcement earlier this week that he would be giving back more than a quarter million dollars to local entities, Reynolds refunded the township $14,543. Township officials said the money will be used by its road, police and fire departments, and the rest placed into the general fund.
Reynolds also pointed out that he had done the same for the Lakota Local School district the night before, with a check that exceeded $59,000.
But it was Stoker’s stance on recent countywide reappraisals that took center stage during Reynolds’ presentation.
Stoker said she was dismayed by the fact that county property values showed an increase of nearly 6 percent, despite a slumping housing market.
Reynolds said he is doing the best he can to limit valuation increases, but that state law requires the three-year reappraisals.
To that, Stoker said: “Why can’t you just hold the line and say that’s it, we’re not going to? Because you’re hurting people.”
Reynolds said the auditor’s office has done all it can to paint a realistic picture of home values across Butler County. He did say there are pockets in the county that are worse off than others, “and those are being taken into consideration.” But he said 2008 values are not.
He said that was one of the reasons why he has implemented a series of town hall meetings to inform residents about the reappraisal process. He’s also inviting people to contact his office until Oct. 31 to dispute their reappraisal.
Stoker says that’s not cutting it.
She said he should contact the state and tell them property values in Butler County have not increased, as he says, 5.95 percent “if he really wanted to show that he was caring about the current plight of our property owners.”
“I’m just saying to show some backbone and show that you know the right thing to do,” Stoker said.
Question: What are your thoughts about the recent reappraisals? Are they fair? Will you take advantage of the opportunity to dispute your reappraisal?
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Comments
By Don Carpenter
September 26, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this
Once again, it goes to show that politics as usual goes on here in dear old Butler County. A fair and balance aspect to this report would note that Trustee Stoker is in fact, a Democrat and if you dig deep enough, a probable financial supporter of the “Z” man. Just thought that little nugget ought to be included in the mix.