Los Angeles herald., 1892-07-29
AeW We HAVE GROWN,
Little Work for the Board of
Equalization.
The Assessment of Forty-Two Years
Ago.
CAPTAIN Gray's Work Gave Little Reason
For Objections of Property
Owners-sOme Interest
ing Comparisons.

The labors of the county board oi
equalization, which are nearing compile
ton, were much less onerous than in
previous years. They commenced their
session on July 9th and closed on July
18th, the time prescribed by statute.
The number Of applications for reduc-
tion of assessments by property holders
this year was less than 100, remark
able falling off from last year, while in
twenty-five instances advances were
made in the assessments, some of these
cases being those which had escaped as
sessment. The assessed valuation this
year by the county assessor shows an
increase of $2,059, ,705 on last year, but
this is still So, ,5S8, ,561 lower than it was
after equalization by the state board of
equalization in 1891, and the inference
drawn from the above is that the state
board will again make rise
in the assessment for Los Ange-
les county. The members of the
county board of equalization will be
cited to appear before the state board,
and the usual battle in defense of the
rights of Southern California against
the barons of the north, will be inaugu-
rated, as the members of the state board,
assuming that they are gifted with pre-
ternatural wisdom, will again presume
that they know more about the prop
erty values in this section than people
actually on the ground. 1t is the same
old game of freeze out against Los An
geles on the part of the northern state
bosses.
The reductions made by the county
board of equalization this year were very
slight, and the applications were also
notably few in number, as the general
mass OF property owners realized that
the current assessment of Assessor Gray
was an equitable and just one.
Among the interesting curios in the
Office of the beard of supervisors is the
copy OF the first assessment made in Los
Angeles county. 1t was made in 1850
by Assessor John r. Woodbridge. 1t
covers twenty-four pages of small book
eight inches by fourteen inches, and the
majority of the pages are not one-third
filed. At the time the assessment was
made the county included SanBernardino
and Orange counties. 1t shows that 288
persons were liable for poll tax, while
the entire valuation of personal and
real property was about 81 800, 900 for q
territory on which today there are as
sessments approximating $3.50, ,000,0 900,
while the actual valuation would be i'm.
mensely in excess of that figure. AS a
matter OF comparison it can be stated
that it requires twenty-nine volumes
20 by "a inches of 280 pages to record the
present assessment of Los Angeles
county. There are today 44,325 owners
of real estate in the county and 1890
persons who are assessed on personal
property only. For this current year
$4,000 has already been collected on
poll tax.
In 1852 the assessment was made and
recorded in Spanish, and the thin
volume was bound in bright-colored
calico. In that year the value of per-
sonal property was fixed at 81 ,l83 1893,
while the entire assessment on real
estate and personal property was
$2,234 ,451. The receipts from poll tax
that year were $307.3C.