Town’s tax challenge not wrong, but …

Well, that was awkward.

So it might be said of the Town of Berlin’s appeal of a state property tax assessment that it believed was lower than the property owner deserved.

Although the argument by town staff didn’t say that exactly, that was the implication when they formally objected to the reduction in value the state assigned to Delegate Wayne Hartman’s Dollar General property on Decatur Street.

While appeals of assessments by taxpayers are a common occurrence, it isn’t that often that a town or other taxing district officially challenges the assessment office’s finding — much to the consternation of the property owner.

In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find another incidence of a local government officially trying to ramp up a property owner’s tax bill by alleging that the assessed value of a property didn’t reflect its true market value and therefore cost it money.

In Berlin’s case, town officials felt the reassessment would lead to it being shorted by $4,000 of already-budgeted money, and that was significant enough to warrant a challenge.

No one here is saying they shouldn’t have done that, considering that state law gives the town and other taxing districts just as much of a right to appeal as the property owner.

It just happens that the financial interests of these two sides of the tax equation do not coincide, and hence the awkwardness and resentment.

As it is, the state assessment office reaffirmed the downward adjustment of the Hartman property’s assessed value, vindicating his position that the town got it wrong.

But right or wrong is not the standard by which this interaction between government and the taxpayer ought to be measured. Given the state’s rejection of the town’s appeal, it’s really a matter of whether the town’s pursuit of a few dollars more was worth it.