Whiteley: Looking for Property Tax Assessment Appeal Help?

From Roy Whiteley, Founder, Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation:

We do not normally tout or promote business enterprises but this one might have some merit, if true. So far, we have not found any web site or other forms of advertising to confirm all of the following. HOWEVER, we have discovered that a C. John Sullivan is offering services to taxpayers representing them during the property tax assessment process!!!

Could this person be the former Director of the Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) ??? Is this possibly the Director who repeatedly dispatched his Deputy Director and a lobbyist paid with taxpayer dollars to thwart our efforts to (1) create a task force to study the archaic, corrupt, flawed, inequitable, non uniform, subjective, and unfair assessment system, (2) allow taxpayers Internet access to worksheets to gain comparable State data and (3) require State assessors to have education and experience credentials equal to those of State Licensed Real Estate Appraisers that the taxpayer is often forced to hire at considerable expense to challenge unfair assessments???

Is this the same person (Director) that often told us of the wonderful job his department was doing?? And now that this person, whoever he may be, seems to be leaning toward our thinking that there are problems with the property tax assessment system, perhaps he would consider joining our efforts to effect reform to the flawed system as he earns fees representing over-assessed taxpayers by challenging their assessments. We wonder how this person (Director) would now approach the assessors and supervisors we have challenged and know they do not possess the State defined qualifications for the positions they now hold. We wonder how that person (Director) will approach and deal with authoritative entities with credentials much less than his own or of those he may employee on behalf of his clients such as a State Licensed Real Estate Appraiser. Makes for some interesting conjecture, doesn’t it????

If you are planning to appeal your assessment and need help, we wonder what your chances might be if you should acquire the services of this individual. Certainly, a former Director should know the intricacies of the system, good and bad. He might even have a slight inside track that could work to your advantage. Who knows what favors might be available with someone with such impeccable credentials fighting the very system he fought so hard to protect from the transparency of a simple taxpayer initiative such as a task force study or allowing Internet access to worksheets for comparative purposes without having to file an appeal or pay a fee????

Looks like this could be the ideal solution, if all of our information is true, to getting a nice assessment reduction from someone who would certainly be in the know of how to successfully challenge the system that many of our fellow 2-million property taxpayers view with fear, trepidation, and total disdain.

Good luck to those who try. PLEASE let us know how you fared.

Roy Whiteley, Founder