Let's Answer Harrison County Commissioner Watson's Question

Ron Watson, according to the Clarksburg newspaper, responded to a question from a municipal official by answering a question with a question. The question he and the other members of the county commision were asked was, to paraphrase, "Why did you wait until now to make a decision to freeze the property tax?". Ron Watson's answer was, "If not now, when? It is an excellent question and one that Ron Watson successfully dodged. He gave a hero's answer as if the commissioners acted as soon as they found out that taxes were going up. The mis-named "10% Letters" that went out from the Assessor's office to almost 15000 property owners had a date of 9 January on them. So, to Commissioner Watson's question about "When?" - why not freeze the tax back in December rather than wait until February 23? It is still a question that the commissioners should answer, however much I like their decision. One can sense the frustration of all officials who spent several weeks building and staffing an operational budget around figures given to them through the county administration, only to find a few days before they are scheduled to go public with their local budgets that the three commissioners, in their journey to OZ, found Courage, a Heart, and a Brain. Well, good for them. But they had to have known back in mid-November and December what the preliminary results of the assessor's results would be and the outrage it was bound to cause. That would have been a great time to call a halt to the rapacious appetite of the Assessor's office.