Jan 09 2006 About this time of the year, I file a personal property tax declaration for my horse farm. And it never seems to fail that someone from the assessor's office gives me a call. If you know me, you know that I'm keen on details and accuracy on these kinds of things. Well, last year the woman who called wanted to know about a $7 difference between my filing the year before and my filing of last year. This $7 difference was for a set of farm tools and equipment that totaled in five figures. That's a rounding error at worst. Wonder how much money it cost the county to call me about a $7 difference (which, I might point out, was not really there if she had read what I sent her)?

So, it was with no surprise that I was called this morning. "Where," I was asked, "was the trailer listed last year? Surely it must be a horse trailer." "Nope. Only a beat-up farm trailer with no road license that I use to haul fence posts through the pasture to make repairs. It's right there on my schedule of equipment." It was. "I see that you have three horses. Do you have any tack for them? None is listed." “Well, it's old stuff, over 20 years old, with not much value." "Okay. I’ll put down the minimum."

In all, there was one item that was already there in what I sent in and another that has little or no value and will not affect my overall taxes. Wonder how much that call cost the county? Marian said my tone of voice was a tad unfriendly. But, the guy did thank me for my cooperation.