National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-23

In the auditors Office fro.o payments that hav
been made, and from estin. Stes that have beel
furnished BY the engineers. -.
@. The auditor Of the Board ~ Public Works
A. Yes, sir; he has all the accounts agains
every contractor In his ONCE; aud we neye
what the street has cost. Then the surveyor
takes the cost and divides Il among the fruni
feet-runnipg front feet on each side q Sh<
street, charging each side with one-sixta, mzk
ing onethird Of the whole cost.
Q. Charging one-sixth Of the cost per from:
footi A. Yes, sir; one-sixth Of the cost.
/ By Mr.. Bass: Q. Deducting exempted prop
ertyi A. Yes, sir; church property is exempt
OF course he cannot charge on that, because u
Is q law Of Congress that they shah mot pay
special or general assessments. he finds out
the whole cost, and then takes the whole mum
Der of feet on the street, and divides tie cost By
the street, and charges each party one-sfxth.
@. Then the effect of that Is that two-thfrds
OF tho Improvements are paid out Of the gen
eral taxi A. General fund Of the District.
Q. do not speak now Of where the Govern
ment Of the United States intervenes, and one
third paid BY the property holdersf A. Yes,
sir. -
Q. And that In respect to the property which
Is exempted, the effect of that improvement Il
TO tax the District government, or the general
revenue with two-thirds, and the property Of
individuals not exempted, with the other third
OF the cost OF improvement before they exempt
property A. Yes, sir; II is q burden upon the
District, and upon the property holders on thai
street. - ~ lss-i- ...-E
{ @. Now you say that that tar Is q mere
matter Of mathematical calculation A. Ex-
actly so. 10 a--rE-S rE-Ts.5=-
@. And the assessment Is never made until
the work has actually been donel A. do no,
know of any case where It has been made.
Q. The work has actually been performed
before that tax is levied A. That Is the rule
District, taxing It by the front foot A. Yes,
sir. '- .| ---'
Q. Thas, then, has no respect to the number
of square feet in q lot A. No, not at all; the
lot may be one hundred feet deep, or Eve hun
dred feet deep, and it does not make particle
of difference.
Q. A lot at an anglo produced by the inter-
section Of an avenue running diagonally with
the streets which cross each other at right
angles, that mere point, then, would be taxed
per front foot on the avenues and on the streets
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Without any regard whatever to the num-
Der Of superficial feet in the whole lot A. Yes,
sir.
Q, That is the effect of that mode of taxa
toni A. Yes, sir.
Q. 1 do not want to say whether It is legal or
right mode Of doing the thing A. That Is 1t
exactly.
Q. Then, further, the effect of that mode of
taxes is that the work that has been performed
is never paid for at the time that it is per-
formed. There must always, affer perfor-
nance, be portion of that work unpaid for.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. There would naturally be-suppose you
70 be in funds to pay two-thirds, that has TO be
dafr Al oft Iar A 7 xya
had the money we would pay the whole of It,
Q. But If you have not the money-A.
Then we cannot pay it. -
@. Then, there is that one-third that Is due
to the contractor, when he has closed his work
a. Yes, sir. 49, ~ 1888
Q. Now, what are the modes of collecting
that one-thirii A. After the assessment i
made we send out notice to the party tha
there is so much assessed on lot number so anC
30 and square so and 500 many front feet
that they have thirty days to pay that in.
Q. After the receipt of the noticed A. Yes
sir. We send a man, and he puts on the notic'
the date that he served it, and then returns tht
same to the office. The parties owning tn
property have thirty days to pay Il in. If the
do not pay IL within the thirty days, then thu
board issues q certificate of assessment agains
that property bearing 10 per cent. interest.
Q. And payable whenl A. In one year.
in assessments made since last July-since tn
act of the Legislature. A. They changed ths
law; they have the privilege Of paying in one
two, three, four, or five years.
Q. Then the original property-owner was al
lowed thirty days to payl A, Yes, sir.
/ @. If he did not pay, then he was allowed {
credit of twelve months at 10 per eenti A
Yes, sir.
O. But now he is allowed to pay IL in twelve
,pDs,al of nor caOk th0aa IN
stallments bearing 10 per cent. INTEREST," A
Yes, sir.
Q. Now inasmuch as there ought to be-
assuming that you had not taken money from
the general revenue that belonged to one street
and applied ii to the payment of the contractor
on another street, but had preserved just
proportion, giving to each street so much OF
the general revenue as belonged to the street,
1t would necessarily follow that there would be
one-third of the amount due to the. contractor
at the end Of his contract A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that the means of paying him are
extended five years according to this systeml
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That necessarily followsf A. Yes. sir.
o. Now, what do YOU do with these certih-
Gates that you thus issuel It Is certificate
that there Is due from that property so much
money! A. Last year the Legislature author
lied the Board ofPubIic Works to issue 50 900,
900 Of specialassessment certificates without
interest; that these certificates should be re-
ceivable for special assessments on the private
property.
o. Two million dollars of special
certificates not bearing INTEREST," A. Yes, sir
they have eight per cent interest.
O. What is the form of those certificates. A
will bring you one up. haven'tone OF then
here.
Mr.. Merrick. Here is one, Mr.. Chairman, or
page 479 of the Governors answer Handing
the book to Mr.. Thurman.
Q. Is this the form as appears in the printed
400. No. SSH $500
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
a- WASHINGTON, July 1, lS53.
This certifies that for work done under direction
OF the, Board Of Public Works, and chargeable Il
the private property adjoining and beuettet
dollars, payable July j, 1874, with eight pc
oentum interest, paysole sentsnnuaiiy, as pc
Issued in accordance with act of Legisiativ,
Assembly, secured by pledge to the commits
sioners OF the sinking fund, OF assessments mad
in accordance with act Of Congress against prop
erty benefited BY improvements, and receivable
In payment Of sueh assessment.
BY JAxEs A. MAGRUpE-,
Treasurer.
HORACE ]. FRosT.
For Commissioners Of Sinking Fund.
slOo.l
Last SIX months interest payable with certih
cate.
Registered:
GEORGE E. BAKER,
Comptroller.
A. Yes, sir.
@. Was II under this act, May 30, 1879
Mr.. Merrick. Yes, sir; it purports to be IN
der that act.
Q. Were the g ,oO0, 600 issucd' A. Yes, sir
9. What was done with themi A. Paid ou
to contractors.
@. So that amount that was paid to contract
ors was certificate bearing eight per cent. IN
teresti
Mr.. Merrick. You are not accurate, Mr.. Ma
gruder, in saying they were all paid to eoD
tractors, for in answer to my question yor
stated seven hundred and odd thousands o
them were sold at 1eH cents discount.
Witness. No, ! didn't say any such thing
Those were not the things that were sold
Those were the assessments on the propert.
before these things were issued.
@. Assessment certifcatesi A. Assessment
certificates on the property.
O. understood you TO say certificates Of in
debtednessi A. No, sir; said the assessment
certificate issued against the property. Thes
are not issued against any particular property
Mr.. Merrick. You have stated Sl73, $50 o
special improvement certificates were issued q
per act Of the Legislature May %, 1873, an
you told me they were sold to the banks.
The Witness. They were sold, and tn
balance paid out TO the contractors.