Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-02-22
DEFEND THEIR ACTION.
The Democratic Members of the Board
of Relief Deny the Charges Made BY
NFr Sneucer

The Democratic Members of the Board
of Relief Deny the Charges Made BY
Mr. Spencer.
To a question put by a reporter of the
Democrat regarding the discrimination it
is alleged they made in the matter of
Attachments in the eastern section of the
town, one of the democratic members of
the board of relief said yesterday:
I'VE did not intend to say anything
about this matter, believing that we have
done our duty and nothing more. We
were we'll aware of the amount of tax that
must be collected to meet the appropria-
tons made by the city and town; only for
that we would have taken off more. There
was considerable talk by certain parties
that we were making deductions on our
friends and neighbors' property and that
we were doing it for political purposes"
"What did you do or say to Mr. Spencer
to cause him to threaten to resign from
the board?"
1--WE were making deductions on certain
pieces of property, which he was opposed
to. He said that if his judgment was no
good there was no use for him to stay
here. We told him that We considered his
judgment good, but that we did not in
tend that he should run the board and
have everything his own way. Things
moved smoothly until two meetings pre-
vious to our last. At that meeting Mr.
Spencer made an appeal to take $50, 600
from three concerns in the city and 81 900
| from the assessment of one private party.
We thought it best not to interfere with
one of the concerns, which had purchased
| several houses that had been taken off the
| grand list, and we considered that the
parties having the houses should pay taxes
70
| make deduction of SO 900 on each of two
| concerns and 5000 on the private party.
"At our next meeting we knew of three
or four persons who were taxed too high.
The amount of proposed reductions was
| about 81 900, and in view of the fact that
| Mr. Spencer at a previous meeting was
anxious to take off S31 900 we moved to re-
| consider our former action for the benefit
| of the four persons. Before we had time
to explain our views Mr. Spencer took his
coat and hat and left the room.
| ''Mr Spencer seems to make great plea
for himself on the John Pagan property.
Why did he not take up the case of Mrs
| Sarah Nettleton? He made a strong APP
peal to the board to take SIS, 900 from her
| list. We did not take our coats and leave,
but agreed to take 81 900 from the list.
We afterwards asked Assessor Hauser if
we had done Mrs Nettleton an injustice by
not complying with Mr. Spencer's wishes
and he said We should not have taken off
one cent. Loren r. Garter made an APP
| peal to the board in regard to his land on
| the Watertown road. Mr. Spencer pro-
posed that we make n reduction of 81, 900
and We finally agreed to take off 81, 500.
Now after all these deductions and great
many others we might name, Mr. Spencer
wants to have it appear that all the deduc-
tons were made by the democratic mem
bors of the board.
I'VE never intended to report the ac-
tons of the board while in session, but
when Mr. Spencer places us in a wrong
position through the press, we think it but
right and proper to defend ourselves be-
fore the public. When the doings of the
board are published it will be seen that
the work of the board was not confined tC
the eastern section of the city. but eX-
tended over the whole city When the
fair minded citizen and taxpayer reads the
report he can judge whether it was a one
| sided affair or not"