The herald., 1895-11-20
WORST CONDITION IN YEARS
Tax Rolls of the County Very
Faulty
INCOMPETENCE EXHIBITED
Taxpayers Put to Great Trouble and
Inconvenience
Statements as to the Road and Highway
Expenditures for welve Months Amount
ing to Sevsnty Thousand Dollars

A complaint long and loud has gone
up from the taxpayers of Los Angeles
county within the last four weeks that
II it is not heard unto high heaven, 1t
ought to be, for in volume it was sutfi'
GENTLY great to reach long distance.
The tax rolls of this county showing,
or pretending to show, the names OF
individual taxpayers were never. in the
history of the county, IN as bad shape as
they are today. Taxpayers betake them
selves to the tax collectors o flee to paw
their humble contribution to 81, 600, 600
per annnm government. TIL ey are then
com PEELED to stand in long line for
hours to get the privilege OF paying into
the cashier. In numerous instances tax
payers nave found that their property is
not on the tax rolls in their name. 1t
appear, in the name of someone else.
The weary waiter is then PEELED TO 60
to the assessors office, the maps are
looked up, it is ascertained in whose
name the assessment has been made, the
error is corrected, The properly owner
goes back to the long line, falls in and
waits his turn to pay. There are more
than lew instances of this kind. There
are hundreds of them.
WHY ARE THEY MADE2
Why are these mistakes made? Why
is the taxpayer put to all this trouble?
Simply because an army of incompetent
deputies are employed, not because OF
their ability. proficiency or fitness for the
positions they are called to fill, but for
the one reason that they have political
l. ~ IN thu
Republican bosses who form the ring
now controlling affairs, and they must
be placed. So they are put off on the
COUNTY taxpayers, either to fill jobs that
are unnecessary or to position the du-
ties of which they are not competent to
perform.
Here is another instance. A man out
in the Compton district has had his lit
tie acreage assessed along with that of
his neignbor for several years at $50 per
acre. This year, when he had stood III
line for about five hours and finally got
up to the desk in the tax collector
office, he found out that his taxes were
about three times as great as last year.
The rate was not Ill UGH greater. but the
amou t he had to pay was. He COM
menced to investigate and found out in
the assessor S Office that his land had
been assessed at $50 per acre instead of
$50. The deputy had made a mistake OF
$50 per acre. All of his neishbors were
assessed as usual, but an increased .alua-
ton had been put on his property be.
cause a careless clerk had MAIDS $S5 out
of $3.50. He was without recourse. All
he could do was to pay in the full
amount and then go through q lot of red
tape and wait long while for a refund.
These are only instances of otfic in
competency. There are hundreds OF 9TH
erS.
NEARLY $50, 900 STRONG.
During the twslve months that closed
with the first day of Novem Der there
was spent on the roads and highways
of this county the sum of $69, 1870.
This vast sum was in the main spent by
three supervisors without competitive
bids being asked or any opportunity be-
ing afforded the public to obtain knuwl-
edge of the work that was contemplated.
The expenditures were segregated as to
the twelve months of the year as follows: