The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-07-28
JERSEY CITY VALUES.
The Tax Commissioners Be-
fore the County Board
Of Equalization.
A DEARTH OF SOLID FACT.
No Data for the First District
Hill Values Explained.

The County Board for the Equalization
Of Taxes met at the Court House yester-
day to hear further evidences regarding
the methods Of the local Assessors.
The meeting was designed for hear
ing in respect to Jersey City values, and
Commissioners German, Prirge and
Lawrence were invited to be present Mr..
Gormqp did not appear. He plead sick
ness in excuse Messrs- Prjgge and Law
renee were rather non-communicatfye-
President Van Reipen presided, and 8
his request Commissioner Morgan, as the
most disinterested party. began to
question Prigge and Lawrence as TO
their knowledge Of the amounts and
valuations OF property lying in this
city. He first opened his batteries upon
Assessor Prigge, whom he interrogated
with regard 70 the number OF lots
or area OF feet In the sugar house
property owned by Matfhiesson 4
Weichers. This Mr.. Prigge could not
give. as he said Mr.. German had assessed
the property. The county commissioners
W ant accurate figures on such matters.
ard so they determined 70 skip this euufll
Mr.. German was able to be present.
The property of George r. Mckenzie,
on Washington street. Mr. Pricge said,
consists of four lots 25x100 feet each. upon
which stand five hye-story brick build
ings- The lots. he Thought. were worth
about 50, 500 each He could not give the
actual value Of the houses, as he had
never examined them.
NEVER EXAMINED THEM
"You have seen the housesf1 Questioned
President Van Reipen-
Yes, have passed by them, but have
never examined them" II is an utter inn
possibility for rhree men to assess the city
together. so we divided up the work The
property was assessed for $4,000, but (
r.f.rF Frtw <l.o uufs <.ft Il
DO you know whether this is any in
crease over last yearsD asked CoEmis-
sioner Morgan
II don't know, but don't think 90
was the reply.
| At this point President Van Reipen
asked If the law did not provide that
the three assessors make their nssess-
ments jointly. He was answered in the
affirmative.
did you take up each individual piece
Of proDertyfn
s'No, we did not have the time.p
"Ain't the assessors appointed for one
year and are you not supposed TO devote
your whole time to the work. / beliexo
you are, aud such being the case You
ought 10 have suficielt time. You can
see the error. gentlenen. OF hsy1ng one
man 90 the work when three mem should
do il. I"
A LOVELY EXCUSE
Here Nh Lawrence sboxed why the
assessors do little work during the year,
and wait until the lass moment 70 per-
| form their duties. He said ~My term
expires April l, and it doa't seem
| likely .that I should get ready and
make the assessment for next Hoar,
when / know nv head Is ~ be chopped
/ of lsuppose the othsr Assessor thought
this. We cannot possibly examine al the
property jointly, SO we divide the WORK
took the Fifth district. Prtege fha
| Fourth and Sixth and German the First,
| Second and Third.
| Assessor PriUQe was asked to Q5ye the
number Of lots or square feet occupies by
1 the grounds OF Peser Henderson This
/ hs could not 40, he said, witAout counnit-
| ing his books. He was not aware that
| they wanted such facts.
I'VE can do nothina.' said Commis-
sioner Morgan, unless you can give rs
/ figures and facts. de notsee the use OF
pursuing the investigation any further
| todav."
s.Yes." remarked President Van Respen,
"We want data TO work on. We eah'E
work on suppositious figures"
SOME FACTS At LAST.
| When questioned by Mr.. Morgan, As
SCISSOR Lawrence said the pDpsr<J OF
/ Thomas H. Williams, on Bergen ave.
nue.. consisted or four lots z5x1c0-
/ The inside lots he valued sc
$1,000. the corner one at 8. .5o0 1'ha
| building he considered worth S12 00e He
Il tAEOA &At wv A11 s%c AStc aAt&A U<A4@f-44
/ would be the top price. He had assessed
the property al S1ae00
The property of q. r Perkins IN Ber-
gen avenue consists of five lots 25ktS5 feet,
| with a handsome house The ground
! was worth about $6 $50. the house $4,000.
| while the actual value Of the property
was Sl6,500. It was assessed at So. 600.
he could give DO figures in the fand Of
| G. r Oxford. and said is would be a
pretty hard thing 70 do 30, rs there
| was so much waste land IN the rear
It ran hack 400 to 500 feet from the
street. He could lock iE mp on the
| map if the commissioners wished. At
this point the commissioners came 20 the
conclusion that Ehev could make no pro-
gress in the Investigation. so they de-
cided 70 adjourn. Before they did SO
| they instructed the assessors to be on
| hand promptly today prepared with
figures and facts. They were also asked
TO see that German was on hand