Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-02-23

ported to the Auditor and audited by him;
from such reports against the corporation of
Liberty Center, a further explanation of the
law and the facts may give light to those yet
in darkness and clear mp their vision.
Your paper reaching more Of our towns
men than any other medium, may / ask to
be heard again through your columns, for
the benefit of those uninformed or wrongly
informed. Every honest citizen of the
township land we grant honesty to alb when
fully understanding the law and the facts
of this excessive tax IN positive violation OF
the statutes upon the property of Jiberty
Center, will not only be willing but anxious to
refund the money illegally assessed and col
Iected from all the property Of the incorpor-
ated village of Liberty Center.
The township has been buying tile and
ditching its roads, making an Indebtedness
upon itself from year TO year, and levying
upon the property of the township to pay
for these Improvements, and IN so doing has
gone beyond its jurisdiction and taxed the
village corporation.
Also, under the head of indebtedness to
pay for these improvements, taking money
from the village property for this indebted
ness contrary to law. The statutes expressly
forbid assessing the property of an incor-
porated village within the limits of town
ship for such purpose by the trustees of said
| township, and it is no excuse to make this
levy under the head of Indebtedness on the
village and use the money TO pay for
this road improvement, as appears has been
done.
The statutes expressly say, when the valu-
alton of a township is between 100000 and
100000 dollars, the extreme limit that may
be assessed on the property of the township
| is $40 of one mill for township purposes; be-
tween $500,000 and $800,000. but 4-10 is the
extreme limit for this purpose.
| The above amounts of valuation is our
case and instead of complying with the law
and limiting these assessments to 10 of one
| mill, when the valuation was between $780,
600 and $500,000, and 4-10 of one mill. when
between $500,000 and $800,000, the facts
show that this law has been violated and an
| excessive tax has been levied on the aggre-
gate property of Liberty Center corporation,
for nine years out of twelve, before discover
ed and stopped, the excess in violation of law,
reaching in one instance 7-10 mills in one
year, on the village, amounting to $138, and
so on down to one mill for these nine years,
amounting to the aggregate sum of $658 "a
as computed illegal tax on the village, every
dollar going into the township treasury, the
village lot receiving one dollar so assessed
and collected of its own money. And such
violations, although without intent, is no ex-
cuse against refunding the money. The
law makes no allowance for ignorance of of
uCbTH Vi Juc ldWS lOE bH6lf
guidance.
We are not prepared to believe that the
citizens of the township would wilfully take
money illegally when fully aware of the fact,
and we feel bound, by common honesty
among honorable men, that every citizen,
when shown beyond reasonable doubt that
the trustees have assessed property beyond
their jurisdiction or in excess of the lawful
limit to any amount more or less through an
| InvnrsiOht {oc yua rn yuilliOry RI hot
no good citizen will say, if we have got the
money let us keep it if we can by some hook
or crook~-We only ask the township TO in,
vestigate it for itself, and see whether or
not they have Illegally assessed the incor-
porated village, and if found to be true, then
to what amount, and whatever the amount
so found, to refund the same.
If the proportionate share of this tax raised
on the entire property of the village beyond
the limits of law had been divided from the
township fund and placed back into the vii
lage treasury SO that those who paid this tax
beyond the limit of the law could have had
the use and benefit of this amount as was
due, if collected at all, then no complaint
would have been made, because the village
aad each individual collectively would have
had the use of their money, but instead of
this no division was made, and not one cent
of this money has ever come back to benefit
the property of the village that paid it. The
point is right here, the township has taken
so much money from the village and used it
for its own purpose in buying tile, ditching
the roads, etc., while at the same time the
village has been assessing itself for the same
purpose, paying for its own tile, building its
own roads and other expenses from its own
property and not one cent from the township,
Now, if the township desires to do the fair
thing, they cannot refuse to pay back this
: money, and the only question that can arise,
to whom shall it be paid to release the town
ship from further liability to any party.
To dispose of this question without expense,
the council of the village will indemnify the
township against all claims of any person
whomsoever. .
!, This will release the township and the
money will benefit the village in obyiating
the levy of this amount of tax for future use
as far as it will go, and each property will re
cover back in this way the amount illegally
taken in its due proportion.
To show perfect fairness to every individu.
al who may have been a resident of the vii
lage at the time this money was collected
and since moved out, it is proposed to pay
every such individual the money % him di.
rect when claim is presented after the money
comes into the village treasury. We can con.
ceive of no farer nor better plan to reach
, each individual as far as possible. 1t lis ~
excuse not to pay just claim to nine-teptE,
/. of a corporation of people and property, b.
cause one tenth may have died or moved
to some foreign country who cannot be
reached, and no law demands it.
We understand that one of the present
trustees Of the township claims that he toe
paid his share of this money we are askins
for, and now let me say for his special bene
fit that our claim is not computed from thu
, tax on the whole township but only on thu
valuation of the village itself, and any per
son owning no property within the villag,
: corporation paid no part of this money ",
ask for, and we only claim the excess takeI
and those who have not fully understood th,
matter before, we trust will after reading
this.
i To sum it all up in one short sentence, tn
4 township has got and used money for it
own purpose illegally raised from the prop
D erty Of the village, and that is all we deman,
and for that we have the right to ask. w,
q do not believe that any person will under
! take to say that this is not "a just claim whel
J, they see that they have had theuse of othe
: money, no matter how obtained, whether lie
gally or illegally, it is due until paid, with in
e terest thereon. If any citizen of the town
ship will propose any other and better piai
9 to settle this matter, such proposition wi
he entertained and duly appreciated and con
, sidered. We take the figures from the Audi
1 tors books for the basis Of this claim, an
las Mr.. Evers is gentlemen and scholar, W
t have no doubt that these assessments wer
lalditedas returned BY the trustees durin
j. his term. Can anyone explain wherein thi
? claim is not valid? o. @. YOUNG.
Most everything in this world is flu
n N.IyU - -