Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-02-13
UNJUST TAXATION AND EQUALIZATION.
Supervisor Bailey Plays with a
Hot Iron and Gets Burned.

supervisor Bailey Plays with a
Hot Iron and Gets Burned.
The Daily Times and Herald of Port
Huron contain an article by Charley
Bailey, supervisor of the township of
Port Huron, in defence of the action
of the late Board of Supervisors, and
criticising certain editorials in the Yale
EXPosIToR.
The writer has read the article and
while there are some innocent depart
ures from absolute precision, yet in
the main the subject is fairly repre-
sented.
Mr.. Bailey ought to have stated in
his article for the information of those
of the readers of his article who are
not acquainted with him: lst, that he
is owner of large property interests in
the City of Port Huron, 2nd, that he is
a greasy political Hustler and 3rd, that
men of that class, no matter of what
political utilization, can not be trusted
deception and chicanery being their
stock in trade.
Bailey's article, so far as getting at
the kernel or truth is concerned is n
simonpure political "yep, yep, yep,
and was written for the sole purpose
of smothering over the dilemma he
placed the supervisor of Brockway in.
Mr.. Bailey was chairman of that never
tO-be-fOrgotten session of the Board of
Supervisors last October; and placed
| the Brockway Supervisor on the Com
mittee of equalization which so gal
lantly shut their doors against discus
sion or interference while fixing the
bonus of fayOritism for the cities. Mr..
Bailey can not forget how quickly the
pet report was rushed through by the
use of the "previous question" refus-
ing any member objecting hearing.
The plan was formulated and carried
out. No doubt Mr.. Bailey was inno-
cent but it will take something more
than the wind of n small county politi-
clan to convince majority of the tax
payers of the back towns that he was
not in the scheme up to his arm pits.
The writer would respectfully say to
the reader that the term equalization"
has no uncertain meaning. 1t means,
in its application to the wards and
townships, that as directed the Board
"shall examine the assessment rolls of
the wards and townships ACT 1893,
Sec. q, Public Acts of 1882 and add
thereto or deduct therefrom such an
amount as will make them relatively
equal, upon which to apportion to each
its share of state and county tax"
This is plain and easily understood; f;
and should it appear to the Board that
all had been fairly assessed, equaliza-
ton would be unnecessary. 1t is where
the assessment of some wards or town.
ships are deemed to be unfair that it
puts III motion the exercise of iuris-
diction of the Board.
To reach approximate fairness some
one town or ward must be selected as q
standard and the remainder added to
or deducted from to correspond as near
as may be. The writer has made in
quiry of many old supervisors and
some recent accessiOns as to any stand
ard being taken and is informed that
such has never been known. If this is
true then equalization is myth, a
name, useful only to cheat the back
towns under cover of taxation. This
talk about raising and lowering towns
and wards in previous years is cum
ningly devised subterfuge to deceive
and mislead. The equalization must
be based upon the assessed value of
the town or ward for the year.
Now Bailey, for fear you yourself
may be deceived, as is probable if you
are so blind land you know when the
blind lead the blind the circumstance
is unfavorable to both keeping out of
the ditch, how is this matter of unjust
equalization? Calling bad names or
making dodging excuses is of no use.
The facts are that the real estate in the
six wards of Port Huron in the year
1880 (ten years ago. was egualized as
follows: First ward, $780, ,4oO; Second
ward, 1897 ,575; Third ward. SAG, ,S25;
Fourth ward, S499, ,l75; Fifth ward
1893 ,l75; Sixth ward, S29S, $50. Right
here the question stands before the
readers and everybody, have or have
not those wards threbled in value dur
ing the last ten years from the lowest
assessible cash value in 1880. The First
ward had then much unimproved
territory not even plotted. All of this
has since been plotted and filled up
with expensive residences, adding 10
the equalized value of 1880 one million
dollars at least. The Second ward,
within that time, has had flats improv-
ed by filling in and many fine business
blocks and residences added, increas-
ing its valuation of 1880 nearly two
million dollars. The Third ward dur
ing that time has been improved by
the addition of many business blocks
on Huron Ave. and the value has ad-
vanced from four to ten times its worth
in 1880, and making assessible value
for 1890 plainly two millions more than
in 1880. In the Fourth ward since 1880
5. l.. Ballentine and others have plot
ted all the land on Lapeer Ave. into
lots, expensive pavement improvements
have been made and nearly all that