The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-08-22
HOBOKEN'S TAXES.
State Board Hears Argument
Against the Increased
Valuations.
Mr.. MINTURN'S STATISTICS
Claims That Jersey City's Fer
ries Pay $4,000 Less
Than Those Of
His City.
Mr.. MINTURN'S STATISTICS
Dollard Says He Assessed Real
Property al Sixty Per Cent.
and Personal at Forty.

The State Board of Equalization of Tax
es met in the Mayors Office, Hoboken
City Hall. this morning at 10:3o o. clock
and heard Hoboken's appeal from the
per cent. increase on local valuations.
The Boards counsel was present and Ho-
boken was represented by Corporation
Attorney James T. Minturn. Ex-Judge
Abel 1. Smith appeared for North Ber-
gen township. Attorney Minturn read
the appeal and said that the valuations
had been grossly misrepresented He
then presented the following statement
This hearing arises out of the fact
that after our local assessor had made
up his tax levy and fixed his valuations
after a careful. honest. patient and thor
ough examination of all property in the
city subject to examination and assess
ment by him, he submitted his list of
ratables made to the County Board for
the Equalization of Taxes, as required
by law. The expenses of the county
evidently required larger appropriations
than in former years, and the Board of
Equalization, composed entirely of nom
residents of Hoboken, concluded to i'm
pose upon Hoboken greater contribu-
ton to the county expense by charging
her with 5 per cent. additional. In other
words, they held that the valuations fixed
by the assessor were five per cent. too
low, ard by adding an additional five per
cent. inferrentialIy charged our assessor
either with lack of judgment or unfair
favoritism toward Hoboken.
REASONS FOR APPEAL.
1.-The reasons upon which the board
based their action are contained, as
understand, in the remarks of Mr.. Nc
Lean, one of the members. After set
ting out the deplorable financial condition
in which Jersey City finds herself by
reason of her own maladministration in
the past, and the further fact that her
large territory has been taken from her
in large quantities for the purposes of
state railroad taxation. and therefore
not subject to local taxation, he proceeds
TO formulate these charges against the
Hoboken assessment He first charges
that the river front property is unfairly
assessed. He stated that the State rail-
road assessors valued the frontage for
railroad purposes at $1,000 per foot, and
that the valuation in Jersey City of SINH
lar property was at the same figure.
We claim here that the State assessors
value the water front of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad at the foot of Second
street in this city, consisting of 243 acres
and 200 feet of water frontage at S72,00O
or at only 1865 per foot. and for proof of
this 1 refer to the report of the State
railroad assessors at page 245 for the year
1888
IF we turn now to the assessment of
the same board on the Pennsylvania
Railroad ferry houses in Jersey City,
what do. we find? That these ferry
houses, consisting of six slips and about
490 feet of water front, are assessed at
only 100000. whilst the Hoboken ferry
houses, consisting of twenty feet less
frontage and eighty feet less structure
and only five slips, are assessed by As
SCISSOR Do.lard of this city at $120,00O.
So much for the relative valuations of the
State board and those of Assessor Dol
lard.
But there is one further fact to be
considered, and that is that if land is
worth $1,000 per foot for the purposes
of assess nlent, it certainly ought to be
worth at least that figure for the pur-
poses of sale by the owner. Now if
we examine recent sales made by the Ho-
boken Land anl Improvement Company
of water front property, we find that
within the last two years the Yellow
Pine Company purchased 425 feet of shore
front and two acres of upland, including
a frontage on Hudson street of 429 feet
at $250,000; an6 that the Ocean Steamship
Company bought 450 feet of water front
and four acres of upland including
frontage on Hudson street of $40 feet,
at $i50000. The property of the Yellow
Pine Company is valued by our assessor
al s193, 900, and that of the Ocean Steam
ship Company at SPAS, 900. If the statement
be true that this land is worth $1,000 a
foot frontage and $4,000 for the upland.
then the owner of this land was sadly
deficient in wisdom because by that
mode of figuring he should have real
ized 100000 from this last purchase in
stead of S450000.
AS TO WATER FRONTAGE.
..And now a word as to the water 'front.'
age itself This city has a most pecul-
lar geological formation. In the early
records and conveyances it is known
as the Island of Hoboken. To the west
of us the tides of the Hudson ebbed
and flowed at will over the Meadows; to
the south of us old Harsilnus or Hoboken
Cove separated us from Pavonia, whilst
8 at the north the old Weehawken Cove, a
portion of which still remains, divided
us from kWeehawken. and the only visi-
BILE aoboken was that promontory which
jutting out into the Hudson and known
as Castle Point. gradually sloped west
ward until it became lost in the tide that
covered the Meadows. This headland
form perpendicular line almost to the
water 'front.' In front Of ii, where the
river, flows, it is difficult to build docks.
The bed of the river is stone, the land
behind is bluff. and the tide is SO
strong at the shore that 1t has some
times been a problem whether a suit
abb lock could ever be built there. There
is Il way of reaching it except by going
dow to Fifth street or up to Tenth
STREET and all these circumstances make
thai frontage, consisting of about $500
feel of very uncertain value, at least
until such time as the walls of Castle
Point shall be graded to meet the ext
gency. No one in Jersey City can safely
or accurately value it. It must be valued
by local expert like our assessor. who
knows the facts
s.The second charge which the County