The Opelousas courier., 1895-09-28
A A CHANGE.
York City Farm Lands to BE Assessed

A TAX CHANGE.
Now York City Farm Lands to BE ASSESSED
a. City Lots.
A bill introduceu by Assemblymar
George w. Hamilton. of this city, passed
by the assembly, changes the method
of valuations on farm lands in the
Twelfth ward by which the city will
be a gamer by 81, 600, 600 of increased
assessments.
1t will be news to many New York
ers that there are farm lands in this
city. There are 20, 900 acres of such
land, but only 5000 acres, lying above
One Hundred and Fifth street, will be
affected by Mr.. Hamilton's bill if II
becomes a law. Aside from its bene'
fetal effect to the city in the matter OF
taxes, the bill will be far reaching in
many other respects.
1t provides that property now as
sessed as farm lands in the Twelfth
ward shall be divided into city lots and
assessed as such. The average assess
ment on an acre of farm land is $500.
There are Tx city lots in an acre. and
the average assessment of a city lot in
that part Of the Twelfth ward where
farm lands are is $500. In other words,
acre of land now assessed at $500
will under the Hamilton bill be rated
at not less than $685. on the tax
books. Taking the average this would
increase the valuation of the 5000
acres in question from $3.50, 900 to S43,-
125, 900, a gain to the city of 81, ,0622, 800.
There are no farm lands which are not
divided into city lots below One Hun
.red and Fifty-frst street. The bur-
den of increase will all fall on the
landed proprietors between One Hun
dred and Fifty-irst street and the
Harlem river, the region of farms.
AS a result of the additional cost to
value of lands a very profitable indus
try, garden farming, will be materially
affected and practically wiped out, as
far as the part of the city referred to
is concerned. Many of the farm lands
are now used by truck farmers for the
cultivation of garden vegetables, and
they pay a nominal rent for the prop
erty. OF course, if the wner are
C pay a tax rate on city
lots, they will have to advance rents
and the profits of garden farming are
said to be not SO big that the small
farmer a stand a very heavy raise in
rent.
Another important effect the change
will have is to place additional re-
possibilities on the proprietors for
Gat will have to be
made. BY dividingahe farm lands into
,ity lots mean thAfnew streets will
be opened up, SEWERS and gas mains
will be laid, and new pavements will
De put down. the cost Of which will be
on the property benefited. So
many of these imp5'rvements, and i'm
orovements of aaShblic natGe,
assessed on the property in TIE neigh
oorhood mentioned that the hGrden Of
:axation has fallen quite heavy on
concerned. There are now
bout SIS, 900, 900 due the city for as
Of that kind. of which 81
100, 600 is payable by land owners above
)ne Hundred and Fifty-fifth street.
time ago the authorities threat
med to sell the property of delin-
and it was then said that a
'orced sale would amount to a virtual
of the property.
Among the proprietors of farm lands
affected by the proposed change will
oe the James Gordon Bennett estate,
L. Beekman estate, Charles
J'Connor estate, Mary E. Ward, G. P.
3rinnell, w. A. Wheeler, z. West, w.
jr., w. F. Buckley, Columbia
J. w. Benedict estate. Susan
]. P. Martin, Andrew F. Hig-
rims, R. T. Connolly, Mrs. Smith, John
4. Haven, J.. NJ. and J.. II. Dyck-
nan, William Powers, N. J.. Daley,
NJ. Cheeseborough, Goodwin & Co.,
estate, w. H. Knapp estate,
Sheppard Knapp, estate of James Pot
C. F. Draper, Samuel Schiff, w. Fl.
Flint & Jones, Robert Bonner,
Mrs. A. d. Seaman, ". B. Isham, E.
w. Van CORTLAND, B. F. Acker-
nan, J. q. Dyckman, Thomas Nc
Quin, Nelson Chase, E. r. Dick, H. A.
D. c. and Olgen Kee, w.
W. Green. A. Robinson, E. Beadleston,
3. H. Mccullough, George Taylor, A.
B. D. Fields, M. 81. eastman,
+. w. Sterling, A. H. Barry, T. J. Pow
Henry R. Ely, agent of the Aston es-
ate, which has large holdings on the
upper west side, said that the passage
# the bill would in no wise affect the
.ity property Of the estate, as that was
taxed as lots.-N. Y. CONNER
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