It’s that time of the year again: Local boards of review are meeting to hear appeals on your yearly property assessments, which is why I bring you this Urgent Taxpayer Alert.

This is about the fundamental fairness of our tax system and not the usual political rhetoric. What is fair about keeping our property values at pre-recession levels and causing hardship to families struggling to survive?

If you don’t object in person or in writing, you lose your rights to have the matter heard by an impartial third party.

Despite falling property values, some local governments across aren’t cutting services and restructuring to address the changing economic and budgetary realities.

Please pay careful attention to your assessment notice, which should have arrived in the mail by now.

We all know these are unprecedented times. But our challenges aren’t insurmountable.

Sometimes it takes hard times to realize the changes that need to take place.

Instead of increasing the pay of government employees, expanding and retaining services and passing millage after millage, we need to consolidate and streamline government at all levels with commonsense reforms.

That’s why I encourage you to attend your board of review because reform starts at the local level.

This isn’t about tax assessors, who perform a very difficult and important service. This is about ensuring government lives within its means.