Political Quotes

“I supported the Goss amendment, which took the 10 percent threshold to 30 percent. This moves it to 20 percent, but it is much more reasonable. I have been in local government for 15 years, and I have sat through hundreds of zoning cases, through a number of condemnation cases and appraisals, and a 10 percent variation, a 10 percent difference is within the margin of error that we see every day with appraisers coming out and appraising the same property. The 10 percent threshold currently in the bill makes this ripe, nationally, for all kinds of litigation anytime a regulation comes out. Twenty percent threshold is a much more reasonable threshold. Anything from market conditions, interest rates, school boundaries, variations affect property appraisals more than 10 percent in appraisals. We see this every day. Those may be technically exempt from this bill because they are local decisions, but the marginality in appraisings of property vary even with the season. The fact that a regulation comes in and then appraisals come in showing a 10 percent difference I think puts this at a dangerous threshold. To preserve this bill and make it credible, we need the legislation to raise the threshold to 10 percent. The presumption here would be to raise it to a 20 percent level. I think it is reasonable. I am happy to support the amendment.”