Great news!

It appears that since September, here in the valley, one of the most depressed real estate markets in the state, if not the nation, that my home value has rocketed upwards in the region of a whopping twenty percent!...

...according to the county tax assessor.
That's going to hit me in the wallet for another $500 a year.
Thieving gits.

California's in a huge financial mess, and the budget they finally squeaked through this week is an abortion. One of the creative accounting methods is for the state to swipe money from cities and counties just to make ends meet, and I guess they have to make the shortfall up somewhere. Since Proposition 1A - which called for large tax increases - got shot down at the polls earlier this year, they have to get it somehow. Cut spending? Nah. There's still sheep to be fleeced!
When government runs out of money, watch out - recession or no.