Shelby County Assessor of Property Melvin Burgess used an additional $180,000 from the county’s depleted general fund balance to blast out what look like political mailers to every home in the county.
Some were so confused by the mailers that they tossed them immediately into the garbage, not realizing they contained their official 2021 property reappraisal notice.
Burgess also changed the official website address for the Assessor’s office to assessormelvinburgess.com.
Just to illustrate how utterly ridiculous this is, I’ve registered the domain name shelbyassessor.com and have it set to redirect here. That’s literally all the Shelby County Assessor’s office had to do if the goal was to create a web address that is “easier for the public to remember.”
Their explanation for the new web address makes no sense, and they also keep changing their story as to why they needed the additional funds for these mailers.
Also, if the size of the mailers was increased to include more information, why do they provide less information than in previous years?
Previous reappraisal notices looked like this. Contrary to the Assessor’s office, it wasn’t “a little bitty card that doesn’t explain why they are getting this increase or what happens after they get it.” There was more information included but no glossy picture of a politician. pic.twitter.com/hrjIcS4aDk
— Mick Wright (@mickwright) March 10, 2021
This is a waste of taxpayer dollars.