I would like to respond to the article about rising property taxes. I own a cabin on the Tenmile Creek in Frisco. It is on property that dates back, in my family, to 1945. In 1988, the cabin began as a 23-by-30-foot three-car garage. Because of excessive property taxes charged against vacant land, we converted it in 2011 into a two-bedroom, one-bath, one-car garage single-family residence with 908 square feet of living area. Taxes dropped from over $5,000 to $1,200.

Since building the cabin, we have had to protest our taxes because of excessive valuation. This past year, we never received a new appraisal from the county. When we received our current bill, we were shocked to see that our taxes increased by over 48%. We cannot understand why the county insists our property is valued so high. There is nothing custom about it, and it is not a rental property; however, it is assessed at almost $965 per square foot of living space. On a per square foot comparison, it makes it one of the most valuable properties in Summit County.

When we have protested the valuation, the county cannot provide comparable properties. They have told me two-bedroom, one-bath, single-family residences haven’t been built in Summit County since 1979. They use custom townhomes and single-family residences with two or three bedrooms and two baths and as much as twice the area of living space as comparable properties.

I don’t understand what is going on at the tax appraisal office and would like a reasonable explanation.