The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-16
TIE GROUND RENr 1ssUE.
The Council Committee to Meet the
Latter Part OF this Week


| IL is probable that the city council COM
mittee appointed at the last meeting to
confer with ground rent property owners
will bs called together the latter part Of
this week. The council will be busy for the
next few days amending the tax ordinance.
Alderman Falligant says if possible he
will convene the committee the latter part
of this week, or early next week, when the
committee win discuss and formulate such
plans as il may deem practicable, and he will
favor inviting the ground rent owners 20 a
subsequent conference.
A plan of settlement has been suggested
whereby ground rent lot owners, in consid-
GRAFTON of some special concessions by the
city, may pay the balance of purchase
money due on the lots in question, and pay
the city taxes hereafter on that class OF
| property.
1t is believed that if discount is made on
! the balance due on the ground rent lots and
/ the owners are released from paying the
| four years taxes now past due, that an
| amicable solution of the issues will have
| been reached. The discount, Alderman
Falligant suggests, should be a scaling one,
to reach all ground rent lotowners.
Alderman Falligant is inclined to meet
the ground rent lot owners and listen to
their side of the case in an amicable way.
=
lots can well afford to pay the small balance
due the city, and be released from paying
the four years back taxes which alone
amounts to more, in some instances, than
the balance of the purchase money due.
In fact. he says that some of the ground
renters have paid up within a very
small margin of the amount which they con-
tracted to pay for the lots, and left a small
balance due the city so that they might
a a ma Of IN m hot oil IF
property. He cited an instance where lot
valued at SIC, 900 would owe four years. back
taxes, and yet there Is only e small amount
of purchase money due the city, so that it
would be much easier to pay the
back purchase money then to pay the
taxes. and he believes an in
ducement of this kind would
bring large amount of money
into the treasury; he is 80 confident that
such compro misses can be effected that he
says he is willing to stake his chances for
money to establish the proposed system of
house drainage on the revenues to be de-
rived from this source by concessions of
that or a similar character.
Meantime he is not prepared to say that
he would not also be willing to hear the
claims of those who hold t1at they paid
higher prices for some of the ground rent
lots at sheriffs's sales on the representa-
ton OF the sheriff that the property would
not be subject to city taxation, and to offer
them fair concessions, although property
has appreciated SO rapidly since that class
Of purchasers bought, and the exemption
from city taxation for the past ten or
twelve years aggregates a sum which
ought to give them no ground to complain
that they paid too much. However, he
says that some purchasers paid all pur-
chase money down, and have the same right
to claim tax exemption as those who paid
only part.
@Aiderman Falligaht is inclined to
believe that the number of ground
rent lot owners who will pay the
balance Of the purchase money in prefer
ence to lighting executions for the back
taxes for 1890 will surprise the people.