Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-04-23
Gb 9ap spp: aalorestr Guesoap alorngl april g. 1872

having no particular drain entering the COM
mon sewer, receive no particular benefit
other than the very slight one PERTAINS
arising from a general advance of real estate
in the sewer district. The aldermen not Salts
fed with starting wrong, pile Ossa upon Peiion
by arbitrarily dividing the land into sixteen
classes, with varying rates Of taxation. What
IS the practical result of their work? Why a
more equitable assessment could have been ar
rived at in lottery. Let us look at il for mo-
ment. A owns 10000 feet of land, taxed S1000,
he Is assessed eight per cent, making the sum he
has TO pay, $50. b owns 10000 feet of land
taxed $4,000, he is assessed two per cent, max
ing $500. The poor man, A, pays nearly one
twelfth of his whole estate. only one iiltieth.
Under this arbitrary division land worth mill
over ten cents per foot pays the same per cent as
land worth nearly double Again, land taxed
$3.50 per foot is obliged to pay more than land
taxed $3.50 per foot. We can hardly think the
aldermen voting for this plan deliberately meant
that one lot of land should pay more per foot
than another worth nearly a third more. AS we
don't dud that they are assessed for any land in
the $3.50 class, lin fact paying little or nothing
anywhere seems TO be the Tule,) it seems TO be
an error of the head rather than the heart, Per-
baps il would not be out of place to suggest,
however, that copies OF some elementary work
upon Arithmetic should be procured for the
aldermen, SO that after reasonable time of close
application they may learn thar three per cent
upon 81 50 amountsito more than two per cent
upon $3.50.
Look at the practical vorbingo Of the proposed
plan from another point of view. The sewer in
High street.. against the building of which all
the AUDITORS protested extending from Pleasant
street TO point opposite the Rogers estate, cost
about $1,000. The abuttors are assessed S4367
The assessment is made upon only one.third of
the cost of the sewers; yet upon that third they
pay nearly three times what was the whole cost
of their sewer. 1t may be said that their drain
age passes through other sewers, n proportiOnate
part of the cost of which they should pay. Take
then the Winter street sewer, costing S2709 SO.
The AUDITORS are assessed S2291 on one-third
The Temple street sewer, costing S22g2. 90:
AUDITORS assessed on One-third, S3478. Probably
the AUDITORS upon these streets as they walk into
the city treasurers office have more just if not
so high appreciation as formerly of the wisdom
of the poor mans friend"
On the other baud, the Salisbury street sewer
cost 13,19S.S4. Boynton street cost S651519
The abuttin9 estates are assessed S42S6, leaving
S15,42 to be paid by owners ofland in other To-
calites. Upon these last named streets the al
dermen repudiate their own rule of assessing
upon the value Of all the land irrespective of the
depth of the lot, but select out $50 feet deep and
assess upon it as farm land taxed by the acre.
They assess (incudlng land upon a sewer where
no house stands and where no street is built
upon a valuation of $4,000, while the city as.
SCISSORS in their sewer valuation called it worth
S101 800, making difference of about $4,000 in
the tax, which must be paid by other parties
There is one other point TO which we would
call attention, and that is the practical inequal-
ity OF the assessment upon estates situated upon
opposite sides of the same street, equally bene
fitted by the sewer, and having nearly the same
number OF linea feet front. One or two examples
must suffice. Recurring TO High street, which
is a fair average we find Mr.. CyrenuS Adrich
assessed S7.07 per linea front loot, while Mr..
George Spur. opposite pays only 1927. On
Main street, Brinley hall block pays about $3.50,
while the Burnside heirs, opposite, are charged
S27 per linea front foot.
In conclusion, we believe that the more the
proposed plan is examined and understood, the
more general will be the conclusion that it utter
ly fails TO provide for an equitable assessment
If carried out it will be almost Il literal render
ing of the text, For whosoever hath, TO him
shall be given, and he shall have more abund-
ance; but whoSoever hath not from him shall
be taken away even that he hath"
OLD CITIZEN