The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-16
THE GIFTS RACK TAXES.

hearing Before the Committee on Claims
 Hard Time to Collect Taxes-Many of
 the Back Accounts Uneoiieetabie.
 The committee on claims had il lengthy and interesting meeting in tho City Hall last Saturday evening. At the direction of the court of common council, this committee is Investigating why Tax Collector Futile has failed to collect back taxes duo the city, town and school districts. Tax Collector Futile and his assistant Frank B. Anthony, Alderman Bishop, John C.. Gallagher from the Eighth, asked the greater part of tho questions, which were mostly concerning what taxes were and what were not collectable, and the manner in which the books are kept. Councilman Bishop first asked what tho method was that secured to the city the payment of back taxes. To this Mir. Futile said he had entered into m agreement with Corporation Counsel Driscoll to collect the taxes from the city, town and school district and he understood that Attorney c. F. Hoadley had been engaged by Mir. Driscoll as au auxiliary to the work. Mir. Futile said he supposed the same agreement was still in force. He said MT. Hoadley got his fees from his col lections at the rate of three dollars apiece.
 Mir. Futile, in answer to question said he always put liens on property when the taxes thereon were not paid. Then Councilman Bishop alluded 10 he sum of S220, 230 10, which is snid to be the amount of so-called taxes un- collected by MT. Futile.
 Mir. Tuttle said he could cite several cases wherein the amount as appeared in the city year book was dellisive so far as 1t applied to the material amount which might be collected. He instanced the sum of sl4, ,303.s1, which Tax Col lector Walter Osborne had left him as uncollectable. MT. Futile said that he did not believe that over &, 900 of this could be collected.
 Mir. Bishop said that it seemed that something over S100,0O was possible to be collected, to which MT. Futile re- piled that this is a hard time to push people. Councilman Bishop responded: "It may be hard times, but the city needs the money as much as anybody" Tax Collector Futile then said that the items made up of alleged unpaid taxes were mixed with errors and duplica- tiOns. For instance, some merchants who had come here years ago and had could be collected. Everything was secured by lien where it could be se- cured.
 He also went on to state that S100, 900 of taxes had been abated by the court of common council which had not been credited on his books, and that there was great deal of property which was not worth taking process against to secure tax obligations. It appears that some parties paid him in installments on their taxes and that at times these installments would cease before the claim was liquidated. He thought that it would be impossible to separate the town, city and school district tax claims in such an account.
 MT. Bishop said that it had been his observation that suits brought by At torney Hoadley had been allowed to sink into obscurity. No reply was made to this. Mr. Futile said he had not fur nished the town agent with a list of de- linquent taxpayers as required by law, l as no demand for such had been made upon him. He had supposed that At torney Hoadley in connection with the corporation counsel had attended to that without his action.
 Councilman Bishop here made a proposition that all taxes not collectable be abated and that all taxes collectable be given to some party to collect, but no action was taken on this. In fact no action was taken at all and MT. Futile and MT. Anthony left the room.
 The committee abated the taxes against Edwin s. Osborne, assessed on the York street sewer. This was done in consideration that Osborne would pay the full assessment of $S5.5G.
 NEW BRITAIN'S INCENDIARY,