Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-14
Mr.. Trimble Thinks One Necessary
to Correct Many Errors.
BLUNDERS THAT ARE CONFUSING.
Many Complaints Received at the
District Building.


to a new assessment.
Each day brings to light errors Of the
most glazing sort, and considerable injus-
tice, it is asserted, has been done to a
large class of taxpayers. In fact the er-
rors made are of such a number and char
acter as to incline officials to believe that
nothing short of another assessment will
rectify them.
AS the month wears on the taxpayers OF
! the city gather in greater numbers at the
District building to pay their taxes, and
when they examine their tax bills there Is
usually great indignation. Not only has
their assessment been raised on the ground,
but old houses have been increased in val
| ua ton, in some instances high as 70
per cent. Every one insists that this Is un-
| Just, for while 1t is expected that land
values will increase, houses deteriorate In
value every year. But who is to blame for
this condition Of affairs? The board of re-
vision only sat as judges. and when proper
ty owners complained of erroneous or ex-
orbitant taxation the board looked into the
matter and corrected the evil. 1t was i'm
possible for it, however, to revise the en-
tire assessment owing to the brief time al
lotted, and the result was that only those
cases which were brought to the atten-
ton of the board were reconsidered.
All the large property holders took adj
! vantage Of the opportunity afforded by
! the board and had their assessments re-
| vised and in every case lowered. The
small property holder, however did moth
| ing. The session of the board lasted six
months. Almost daily notices appeared
warning the property holders of the work
of the board of revision and advising them
to look after their interests before 1t was
| too late. But the life of the board ended
with thousands of cases untouched, and
| with it's death the new assessment of 1893
! began to live. 1t is a strong, vigorous baby
but very unpopular. 1t will live. however,
until new assessment is made, and the
Commissioners are powerless to change its
construction in any respect
| Many Complaints.
But that does not deter the property hold
ers from complaining. They have set up
a wall that grows louder each day. The
vocal complaints at the tax Office are back
ed up by the protests against the high as
sessment received daily through the mail.
| The work in the assessors Office is far
behind and the clerks are crowded to their
UTMOST
There are instances where a lot has been
| charged with a house that never existed
Then again houses rightly belonging to a
certain lot have been enormously charged to
| some other lot, and the result is that gen.
eial confusion exists.
! 1t Is a fact that the assessor and the as
sistant assessor the latter was the chair
| man Of the board of revision) are in favor
of new assessment. Assessor Trimble in
his annual report will discuss the matter
| freely and recommend that a new assess
| ment be made.
To Recommend n New Assessment.
| A reporter of The Star found the assessor
| bordering over an error in the new assess
ment this morning when he went to inter-
view him on the needs of a new assessment
Il honestly believe that 1t will require a
complete reassessment of the real estate to
enable the assessors office to properly as
sess. and the collectors Office to collect the
taxes. The errors made under the last
assessment are startling, and unless some
thing is done, / fear legal difficulties will
arise that may nullify the assessment
The trouble was with the board of as
Sistant assessors. The board of revision is
not blamable in the least. 1t did every
thing possible in the brief tir1e allotted
to 1t. In my annual report 1 hall recon-
mend a new assessment. / believe IL is
one Of the things urgently demanded. and
will realizee its Importance and urge Con-
gress to give immediate legislation on the
subject
Il have no hesitancy in saying" said
Assistant Assessor Griffin, who was chair
man of the board of revision, that a new
assessment is absolutely required to
straighten us out of the difficulties in which
we find ourselves. 1t would take a week
| for me to tell you of the errors that have
come to light since the LIST of November.
1t is not my purpose to criticise the board
| or assistant assessors which made the
| assessment, but candor compels me to ad-
NIT that 1t made many grevous errors.
A new assessment will enable us to
straighten things out, which are now hope
| lessly muddled.'
The Commissioner Views.
Commissioner Ross said: 'If the errors
that have been discovered in the new as
sessment cannot be corrected without hav-
ing new assessment, | am in favor of
such a thing. Yes, 1 have considered this
4 matter at some length and have seen evi-
dence of error. The assessors at first
thought it would be Il good idea 10 gst su-
| thority from Congress to change the assess
ment where glaring errors occurred. But
this would hardly do. Everyone would come
| in and want his assessment changed. As
L have said, | FIVE find upon careful ex-
animation that new assessment s. the
| only way to correct The errors, / will vote
for such an arrangement"
Capt. Powell said: Il nave not heard of
the numerous errors YOU speak of AS oc,,l ar
| ring in the new assessment. believe how
ever, each individual case should stand
| upon its merits. and If errors are found
should be corrected, without invs,idating
the entire assessment. If the prcsen: as-
sessment is thrown aside it will seriously
embarrass the District However, IL the
errors warrant new assessment, L am in
favor of it,"
| DIR. KERR ENUMERATED,