At last night's County Commission meeting a proposal was heard to keep property appraiser Melvin Moore on to represent Roane County in the ongoing property value disputes. This would be an amazing affront to the voters of Roane County who voted Melvin's boss out of office because of Melvin's assessments. No vote was taken.

I have previously noted that I have more than one property currently in this dispute and given instances of Melvin's incompetence. Let's hope the Commissioners support the will of the voters and let David Morgan run his own office.

Calculations show that approximately $15 million is unfairly taken from property owners who have been appraised at valuations 30% above true market value, according to Teresa Kirkham's own statements. When those properties are correctly appraised it will cut Roane County's total property value and the Commissioners will be forced to raise the tax rate to match their increased budgetary spending, or cut spending to match the correct valuations.