The herald., 1894-03-06
THE REFORM LEAGUES WORK,
Some Important Facts of City
and County.
Extracts From the secretary's An.
nual Report.
Something About ConstAbIes' Fees,
Taxes, Onicial Maps, ASSESS
ments, Expenditures and
Other Things.

zens' Reform league, has prepared his
annual report, from which the following
interesting facts are taken. Among
other things the report says:
The official maps OF the county are in
such a chaotic condition as to be a
source Of continual annoyance to the
people and great expense annually to
the county. in making the assessment.
Recognizing these facts, the executive
committee started movement looking
toward obtaining new, correct and
complete county map; but it was dis
covered that the work was one OF such
magnitude that it could not be complet.
ed in time for the next assessment
therefore this work was laid aside to
make way for other more urgent mat
ters, and is now one of the subjects
which the executive com mittee has in
hand for future consideration.
Among other things considered and
acted upon by the executive committee
was that Of the excessive fees collected
by the constebles of Los Angeles town
chip. The county government act pro-
vides that conetables shall receive GER
tain fees, not exceeding; $1,000 per year,
but to get around this the constables of
this township each had deputy, who
we're paid by the supervisors regular
salary OF SIS per month. Since Febru-
ary 1et OF last yearthe board Of SUPER
visors, having been shown the illegality
of the claim, has refused to pay these
salaries, and these deputies have been
dispensed with since that time.
One of the matters of greatest impor-
tance to the taxpayers is the action
which the state board OF equalization
may take in raising the total assessment
of the county. In 1892 the state board
raised the total assessment OF the county
1219 per cent. AS the time drew near in
1888 when the state board would be in
session the executive committee took
this matter in hand and appointed a
subcommittee from among its own mem
bers, which, with some very valuable data
that it gathered, appeared before the
state board with the committee of the
board of supervisors. The result of their
joint effort WAS that the state board was
induced not to raise the assessment of
Los Angeles county 10 or ID per cent, nor
at all.
Another matter to which the execu-
tive committee gave particular attention
was the great cost of the computation
and extension of taxes on the ASSESS
ment roll. This lie the clerical work of
calculating and entering on the roll the
amount Of taxes due from each individ-
ual piece of property in the county, and
on investigation it was found that in
former years this work had cost in the
heighborhood of $500 per snnum.
Careful computations demonstrated the
fact that 10 cents per page would be
enough to pay for this work, and would
give those engaged in it very fair COM
pensation. AS there are about 1000
pages of the assessment roll this would
reduce the cost OF the work to about
500, or one-fifth of what it formerly
cost, saving of so per cent. Acting on
this information, committee Of the
league appeared before the board of
supervisors, stated the facts as above
and asked the board to reduce the cost
of the work to 10 cents per page. This
proposition was strenuously opposed
and bitterly fought by the county
auditor, with the result that the super
visors refused to reduce the price to be
paid for the work to 10 cents per page,
but placed the per diem of the people
employed on it at such figure and 80
limited the number of days in which
buoy WoIO W UO LILO WOIk Juhb b1o COht
was reduced from the $500 of former
years to little more than $4,000 for this
year. saving of over $500 or 45 per
cent.
In the matter of the expense OF
county government the executive COM
mittee employed an expert to ascertain
what this expense was for the past year,
and the work was prosecuted up to Oc.
tober 1st, at which time the committee
deemed it advisable to discontinue tenn
porarily, thus leaving this work incom-
plete, but enough information was
gathered to show that the expense oil
government of Los Angeles county ia
largely in excess of what would pe a
reasonable or even liberal figure there
for. and when compared with that oil
other counties, data from which was
procured for the same period in which
the government of Los Angeles county
was Investigated, it was found that our
government costs from 100 to 125 per
cent more than that of any other
counties of the state which are similar
to our county in the matter Of total as
sessment, population, etc. This work
is yet to be completed, and the execu-
tive committee expects to continue ii
at 6u OAElv Qnto, AaU VOuAU ICbpcCbkultV
urge upon the league the necessity Of
doing 80.
In gathering the data in regard to the
expense OF county government the ex-
istence of the following remarkable con.
dition of affsirs was developed: The
revenues raised for the government oil
Los Angeles county and the incorporated
cities therein, for the year 1898, were as
follows: City of Santa Monica (taxes
only, $812909; Pomona, $l4,2 ,27O.l3;
Monrovia. $S460.70; Pasadena, $54 .565.
IS; Long Beach, $5983.7l; San Pedro,
$3429.84; city of Los Angeles, total re,
ceipts, 1881, 13l.13. less state sohoo-
money accounted for in county reCeiptsl
$l65, ,291 80, leaving balance OF 81, 1885,
839. SO. County of Los Angeles, total
receipts, 81, ,610. 0.654.71. Grand total, re-
ceipts, S2,87l, 1888. IL.
The actual expenditures of the depart
ments of government, for the same year,
were as follows: City of Santa Monica
(taxes only, So, 1900: city of Pomona
(taxes only, $14 ,270.13; city OF Monro-
via (taxee only, So, AGO. 20; city of Pasa-