Monday, June 18, 2012
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By now you should have received your property tax appraisal
and may be pleased to see that this is reduced and (as long as there is not an
increase in the millage rate) you may be paying less tax this year than last
year. However if you are one of the folks who live around the lake and a
field assessor has visited you in the last 6 months or so you may be less
pleased to see extra photos (beyond the customary front view of your home)
posted on a public website. These photos, until about three weeks ago, also included docks as well as views from
private patios, decks and even included dogs behind a fence!
Initially I brought this privacy and security issue to the
attention of the Dawson Tax Assessors Office
some six weeks ago and was told that it was their legal right to post
publically any photos the field assessors had taken. However the Georgia
legislation (Tax and Revenue 48-5-314) is extremely vague, and makes no
reference to the content of online public records of private property.
Common sense and reason might indicate that such additional photo postings
provide would be thieves with shopping lists and locations.
Some three weeks ago the Dawson News and Advertiser
published a DCHCA letter to the editor highlighting these issues. Following
this publication I have spoken personally with the Chief Appraiser, the Board
of Assessors Chairman, the BOC Chairman, and some of the County Commissioners. I
have sent all the Commissioners email examples of these extra photos, as well
as notifying our State Senator, those currently running for District 9 State House Representative seat
and the GA Department of Revenue
about the need to update the legislation to protect not just our private
property rights but also to safeguard the
security of our homes.
Although these actions by the DCHCA have been successful in
getting the Tax Assessors Office to remove photographs of docks, many of the
other views around the back and sides of lake homes, including the property
owner’s vehicle with legible license tags in the driveway, still remain
publicly accessible and downloadable.
With your help the DCHCA will continue to request that our
elected leaders formulate and enforce a policy that will protect both our
private property rights and the security of our homes, by removing the existing
“extra photographs” currently posted on the Dawson Tax Assessors public
website, and preventing similar extra photos, beyond the traditional front
aspect of a home, from being uploaded in the future not just for the “lake
front” homes but all homes countywide. Check your property card online and let
the Dawson Tax Assessors Office and your
elected leaders know your preference for “extra photographs” of your property
being published and available for downloading by anyone on a public website.
For Dawson County Homeowners Civic Association
www.dawsoncountyhomeowners.org
To check YOUR property card online click the
following link (taken from the Dawson County Government website) http://www.dawsontaxassessors.org/index.html
- Click on “Search Records”
tab at the top left of the page – when a new page appears click on the
statement Yes,
I accept the above statement and want to Search Records. The next
page that comes up gives you choices of how to search - typing your last name
in the box will bring up all property cards for that family name….scroll
through these to find yours, click on “Parcel Number” on left side of the page
to bring up your “property card”.
Photos can be viewed by clicking on “Building Image”.
These are generally just the standard front aspect of the home but if you have
a “lake” property you may find additional photos publically published under
“Land Information”. If “show photo” appears here click it. You may see your
deck, patio, a view over Public Lands managed by the Corps of Engineers and
perhaps a tree, your vehicle, a fishpond or
your dogs in your backyard!
Note: Currently the quality of aerial
photography published on the Tax Assessor’s website is not uniform for the
entire county. The Lake area and Dawson Forest are featured in high resolution
aerial photography (but not sufficient to read license tags!) Further north and
west of the Lake there is an intermediate resolution (less detail is
identifiable) and in the far western areas of the county the aerial photography
is much more fuzzy. The website allows the viewer to pan 360 degrees aerially
around a property, zooming in and out to ascertain more detail. None of these
angles feature anything like the detail or resolution of the photos taken by a
field assessor on foot.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The taxman cometh, or rather his henchman, the field
assessor, to check, document and photograph the minute details outside
your home (and inside if you give him permission) all in the name of
re-evaluating the tax digest of real property (your home and garden). In last
week’s letter I mentioned the 4th Amendment that has its origins in England in
the indelibly understood phrase…“an Englishman’s home is his castle” (at least
until the queen returns).
Well not so much in America anymore. Take a moment to check
the property listing for your home on the Dawson County Tax Assessor’s website
- http://www.qpublic.net/ga/dawson/
(Search Records) - and you may be surprised to see that you have been one of
those selected to have extra photographs of your decks, docks, outbuildings,
barns and garages (including equipment and cars with identifying license tags)
along with views of how to access your property from adjoining Public Lands,
all posted (and downloadable) on this most public website. Invasion of
privacy and security risks immediately spring to mind, followed by how much
time and effort (=cost) went into uploading all these extra data? What next,
pictures of the inside of our homes taken through our windows by peeping field
assessors?
When did the policy of publishing just the front view of a
property, as seen from the road, change to publicly inventorying backyard
possessions and vistas from private patios and decks? In my opinion this is an
open invitation for homeowner abuse, offering tempting options to thieves to
take property so readily displayed in public, not to mention what the tax
assessors may choose to use their ever growing dossier on you for. Watch for
men with guns in bullet proof vests carrying yellow tape?
Thursday, May 17, 2012
When did we click
“Agree” to this Lack of Privacy and Security Policy?
If you are an Etowah Water and Sewer Association (EWSA)
customer you may have seen, or will soon see, a notice stuck to your mail box
informing you that this Water Utility is switching your water meter to a “smart
meter” under the guise of a directive of GA Senate Bill 370. (This legislation
did NOT mandate “smart meters” but that water utilities be able to account for
their water usage and losses). While these meters may seem like an efficient
way to detect leaks and conserve water they will also allow EWSA, their agents,
and any knowledgeable hacker to access detailed, minute by minute, data of an individual homeowner’s pattern of
water usage.
The data from each smart meter is transmitted (like a cell
phone conversation) via receiving antennae (3 in Dawson County) and forwarded
for collection by EWSA. Unlike conventional meters, which record amalgamated
water use for monthly or weekly readings, EWSA’s fix (estimated to cost around
$2M for approximately 5300 customers) will pinpoint not only low flow leaks but
also when you flush, when you take a bath vs. a shower, or
leave the faucet running when you brush your teeth, without any guarantee of the
privacy of this data. Although they may not be able to tell yet if it was a #1
or a #2 you did in the bathroom anyone seeing the minute by minute data will certainly
be able to deduce that no water use in a home for an extended period means that
the occupants may be away at work or on vacation. This information, in the
wrong hands, is not just a privacy issue but also a safety and security concern.
With over half the installation project already completed
EWSA have neither published on their website nor included in our water bills a privacy
or security policy statement regarding how these data, from inside our homes,
will be used. Who sees this information? How is it handled? Is it shared with
third parties or sold, or used to construct future tariff pricing? Will it be
used to enforce watering restrictions? Has the ability of hackers gaining
access to the transmissions been stymied? Does law enforcement need a warrant
to peek? While in GA we have a tradition of standing up for our First and
Second Amendment rights, when I last checked there was a Fourth Amendment that
deserves some attention too! (For those not familiar with this, it deals with searches
inside our homes).
Monday, April 30, 2012
Welcome
Welcome to a new option for the Dawson County Homeowners....it's a Blog called "Dawson Daylight", which we hope will 'shine a little light' into the darker corners of the doings in Dawson.
We hope to encourage wide participation along with good natured debate and questioning of what we might have always "taken for granted"...
The Dawson County Homeowners are a 501c3 and as such we do not endorse any political candidate..ever... BUT we may debate and / or support various policies.
Will you help us by sharing your opinions and join us?....We hope so!
Watch for more updates on our Website soon.
We hope to encourage wide participation along with good natured debate and questioning of what we might have always "taken for granted"...
The Dawson County Homeowners are a 501c3 and as such we do not endorse any political candidate..ever... BUT we may debate and / or support various policies.
Will you help us by sharing your opinions and join us?....We hope so!
Watch for more updates on our Website soon.
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