The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-12-20
STATE BOARD OF TAXATION.
1t Has Heard Many Appeals During
the Past Year..

The State Board of Taxation are rounding
out their third year and are preparing rather
an interesting report to the Legislature
While the subject of taxation is usually a
dry theme the reforms that this State Board
have made, as well as the striking incon-
gruities that they have discovered, make the
document worthy Of perusal. During the
year that has Just closed the State Board
have heard a large number of petitions from
individual property owners complaining of
unjust valuation, and the appeals this year
differ from those Of last because they are
mostly from the owners of suburban and sea
shore homes, while during the year previous
the appeals were principally from the
owners of city properties in New Brunswick
Paterson, Newark and Camden During the
year they have also been called upon to make
adjustments in a number of the counties
where some one borough or township was
aggrieyed by the determinations made
against it, necessitating review of the en-
tire county valuations SO that adjustments
could be made. The appeals of this charac-
ter came from Camden Hudson, Monmouth,
Mercer, Middlesex, Salem and Warren coun-
ties.
One of the good resolutions of the board is
shown In the corrections made in county
tables. The average assessor is not mathe-
matlclan, and in many counties errors of
ships, sometimes in the totals, but when the
table is returned, even if errors in addition
be detected, they cannot be altered except
by an appeal to the State Board; and they
heard number of these technical appeals,
and it is surprising how careless the average
assessor is in his footings
The Board is now considering a yery in
teresting appeal of taxation from Asbury
Park, and it is the first adjustment of taxa
tlon since Asbury became borough As
bury is in Neptune township, Monmouth
county, and the owners of property there have
been doubly taxed The assessors of Nep-
tune township and the assessors of the bor-
ough have both levied taxes and the citizens
are at loss to know which tax bill to pay
They appealed the case to the Board and the
matter is to be heard next Tuesday and a
decision rendered
In Mlddlesex county an appeal was made
by the city of New Brunswick on the valua-
tion made by the County Board, because of
its excessiveness They find tat they are
taxed higher in proportion than any other
part OF the county, and they are obliged to
bear the largest part of the county and
school tax
This board had under consideration an in
terestlng case bearing on the taxation of
franchises. The city Of Paterson taxed the
franchise OF the Passaic Water Company at
S5O0, ,000 The board heard the matter at
Paterson, and the City Attorney insisted
that the franchise was taxed according to
the fourth article of the State Constitution,
which reads - Property shall be assessed for
tax under general laws and by uniform rules,
according to its true value" But ex-senator
j. W. Griggs, representing the corporation,
contends that franchises are not specified in
the particular clause and cannot be included
and assessed under that part of the constitu-
ton.
The board, after hearing the matter, de-
cided to leave its adjudication to the Supreme
Court