Private Property Becoming Less Private

[XLFD]

The following article shows an example of either a government agent being dedicated to his profession or of him unlawfully overstepping the bounds of his authority in crushing the rights of the homeowners in the township he serves. 

In a nutshell, a Kent County township assessor sends out notices he will be taking assessing photos of properties.  One homeowner objects to the procedure, even has a "No Trespassing" sign at the front of his property to drive home that concept.  The assessor film crew comes by and not only takes a street view photo of the house but enters the back yard of the property to take photos of the pole barn that cannot be seen from off the property. 

Foul or no foul?  Read the article included below and decide.  Locally, the City of Ludington's assessors typically take street views of local houses and have them available at their assessor website.  You enter the address or homeowner's name, click, and see a very wide array of information on that property, almost always including a front view photo of buildings on the property and a diagram of where the buildings at that address are situated in that lot.  Here is a sample picture of former Mayor's John Henderson's lot on Tinkham next to the property just brought for a future fire station, followed by the story from Michigan Capital Confidenial.

Invasion of Privacy? Tax Assessors Taking Photos on Private Property

Township employee ignores no trespassing warning and posts photos online

When Jeff Stout posted a "no trespassing" sign on the mailbox outside his Cannon Township home in suburban Grand Rapids, he thought that would be enough to keep strangers off his property. Then, he saw a picture of his backyard on the township’s website, taken by township tax assessors.

This is a photo of a pole barn in the back of the property of Jeff Stout of Cannon Township. The pole barn can't be seen from the road. A township tax assessor took a photo of the pole barn and posted it on the township website.

“These pictures are on the township website, along with pictures of the front and back of everyone’s houses, available for public viewing, possibly a privacy concern, or maybe of use to criminals,” said Stout.

The pictures show parts of the property that cannot be seen from the street or in images on Google or real estate websites. They show the layout of backyards and unattached furnishings that potentially could be of interest to thieves.

While many communities post property photos on their websites, most show no more than what someone could view from the street. Township assessor Matthew Frain doesn’t see a problem with the backyard photos and beyond-the-tree front yard shots Cannon Township displays.

“They (the photos) are in our database, and yes, it is available under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act),” said Frain.

He acknowledged the state does not require communities to post such photos on the Internet, and did not explain what public purpose is served by posting them.

“It’s just all part of our software program and I’m not aware of any community that limits the use of photos,” said Frain.

More troubling for Stout was the township ignoring requests he made that went beyond just posting the “no trespassing” sign. Weeks earlier, after getting a postcard announcing that assessors would be in the neighborhood, the homeowner informed the township that he wanted no visits.

Stout questioned the legality of the on-site visits and said the township attorney seemed to concur that assessors have no legal or statutory authority to enter private property. Stout was also concerned that the postcard did not state that homeowners had the right to refuse the inspections.

“According to the research I have done, the U.S. Constitution, Fourth Amendment, prohibits government personnel from going inside the ‘curtilage’ without a warrant,” said Stout, who says it is impossible for assessors not to violate this when they are measuring your house and can easily see in windows.

Frain disagrees that the postcards need to explain a homeowner's right to bow out.

“People understand what their property rights are. Most are very courteous at the door and if they want us to leave, we leave,” said Frain.

But if there is no request ahead of time and the homeowner is not home at the time of the visit, Frain says his staff will proceed with measuring the home and taking photographs, even if there is a “no trespassing" sign.

Frain said he had many legal opinions on the legality of his staff making visits on private property.

Stout did indeed see the assessors on his property, asked them to leave and then called the county sheriff because they ignored his sign. However, he apparently did not stop the assessors before they took the photos of his property.

The Kent County prosecuting attorney's office did not file charges against the assessors.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Helmer did not return phone calls.

“I was shocked that the assessors would disregard my 'no trespassing' sign,” said Stout. He complained at a township board meeting but he said nothing has changed. He was told simply changing the postcard to state homeowners had the right to refuse the visits would cause difficulty for the assessors.

Assessors say they are under pressure to be more thorough in their work after the state began requiring communities to visit 20 percent of their properties in a given year. If the state suspects communities are not doing thorough assessments, they could be subject to an audit, a lengthy and expensive process.

“There is a fear among some assessors they are going to fail those,” said Laurie Spencer, who is the equalization director for Leelanau County.

She says her job is to see that the taxation process is fair and equitable and that assessors do honor requests to stay off property.

“I don’t know of any assessor who would not abide by that,” said Spencer.

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/21415

[Willy]

The only recourse I can see is to sue the township and try to have the assessor replaced, otherwise this type of behavior is going to continue. Every time one of these pea-head officials violates the Constitution they seem not to consider the fact that they are violating their own rights. It's funny how easily Government employees are so willing to trash the document our Country was founded on just to make their jobs easier. The classic example of Constitution trashing takes place on a consistent basis in the town of Ludington.

[AQUAMAN]

Seems like I remember a guy not too long ago that also was violated on his private property. Seems the assessors trespassed and took pictures of some BBQ system he had, and when he went to complain to the township authorities, they had the police lodge him in jail for talking about it during a public comment session at the meeting. The homeowner also got beaten by police just before he was arrested, for making verbal complaints. We had video of that too here at the Torch. Assessors these days are way too over the top in their job duties. They also do this around the Mason County area very frequently now. Bet you don't see them on any county officials' properties snooping around when they aren't home. Another case of a two-tiered system of injustice.  

[XLFD]

County/township assessors ultimately get their legal advice from the county attorney's office, which doubles as the prosecuting attorney's office in most counties, so I would hope the folks of Kent County are paying attention.  Your prosecuting attorney is endorsing trespassing by his fellow officials, but doesn't want to talk about it. 

The Kent County Attorneys, you may remember, are also willing to charge $10-$13 for a 2-page state mandated accident report and $650 for the FOIA requests (only) made to the KCSD over the last year.  Let us not forget, over 50 of our Ludington City Attorney shysters are from Kent County. 

[shinblind]

With the advent of remote sensing drones and until there is a legal ruling stating otherwise I find this to be a moot issue. Too soon our backyards will no longer provide a place of refuge from the prying eyes of Government. They will stand on public right of ways and fly-over our fences  taking photos both of our backyards and in our windows.