MY TURN: The buck never stops with Bela

Former President of the United States Harry Truman had a sign on his desk stating “The Buck Stops Here," meaning he was ultimately responsible for all actions of his administration. Bela Kovacs, Kootenai County assessor, should have a sign on his desk stating “The Buck Passes Through Here.” He always has an excuse for his failings.

(1) The 2022 Assessed Values were ready on time to present to County Clerk and Kovacs did not send them out claiming falsely that too many Appraisal Challenges took his time. He received a Vote of No Confidence petition from 10 of the employees in the Assessor’s office in 2022.

(2) The recent missed evaluation of a piece of lake property is another example. This comes in the wake of a $53 million property value assessment error, which affected seven taxing districts and delayed the distribution of property tax notices.

When an appraiser mistakenly entered the front footage of a lakefront property as 6,966 feet instead of 69.66 feet, the property’s valuation jumped from $1.4 million in 2022 to $54.3 million this year. All you had to do was look at the ASSESSMENT NOTICE and review Last Year’s Value and the Current Year Value. Kovacs blamed multiple employees on the error.

(3) Kootenai County Assessor Béla Kovacs has withdrawn public record requests submitted to the treasurer’s office that were expected to generate many tens of thousands of documents and cost more than $20,000 in employee labor to fulfill.

(4) Kovacs was a board member of the Foothills Homeowners’ Association and because of the same type of request as stated in (3) above plus other actions; at the April 12, 2023 HOA meeting one director made a motion of No Confidence on Bela Kovacs; former and current officers and board members agreed. Kovacs was asked to resign. He refused.

At the May 24, 2023 Special Members Meeting was called to vote on recall of Bela Kovacs and another board member, After much discussion a paper ballot vote was taken. The votes were 44 for recall of Kovacs and 12 to retain. The other board member received 37 for recall and 16 to retain. Kovacs and the other board member were recalled and removed from the HOA Board.

James Crowe is a resident of Coeur d'Alene.