Propety Tax Assessment Follies

When we bought our house, the old siding was in bad shape, and the housing inspector said we had a few years, but would really need to replace it.  Four years later, we've done our research and have chosen fiber cement over vinyl because the materials cost a little more but is more fireproof, environmentally friendly, and might require less maintenance over the years.  Fast forward to earlier this year, when the city Assessor's office finally got around to reassessing the value of our house and determined that replacing our rotting wood composite siding with fiber cement corresponds to a 5% increase in the value of the house -- and this increase is based entirely on the "extra" value of choosing fiber cement over vinyl, for fiber cement is apparently considered some fancy upper crusty product and not for people who just want to deal with less siding maintenance.  The city's proposed increase is far more than the difference between the cost of fiber cement vs. vinyl, so they'll be out again to do a more thorough reappraisal.