We went to the annual Assessment Grievance today in my town of Jackson, N.Y., where homeowners can go to “grieve” their taxes before the town’s Assessment Review Board. It was a lovely exercise in democracy at work. Four or five people showed up to ask that their assessments be lowered and present their arguments.

There are not a lot of homes in our town.

We had a new appraisal, done last year which valued our house at about $40,000 less than the town assessors did and we asked the assessment board to consider reducing it. They could not have been nicer or more patient or professional, they are just volunteer townspeople and neighbors, everybody seemed to want to know what we had to say and do the right thing. We’ll know in a month or two if our arguments were accepted. If not, we have no complaints, we were treated courteously and fairly.

The board introduced themselves, and I noticed right away that every single one of them had a road named after them. That means their families have lived here a long time. No matter how long I live here, I do not imagine there will ever be a “Katz” road. I knew some of the board members, they all knew Florence Walrath, who owned our house before we did.

It felt like the purest kind of democratic exercise, it was held in our little Town Hall and Justice Court. (The judge sits on the dais on the right once a week.) We think we have a good case, we not only have the appraisal but a number of comparable sales for houses that are new or much more updated than ours – two or three baths, two-car garages, pools – that were assessed at lower rates. Win or lose, it was actually fun and rewarding.

I am one of those people who avoid sitting on committees or getting too involved in local government, but this was a pleasure. How it is supposed to work.