St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-10
COUNTY ASSESSOR sfsNG BEGINS
THE REVALUATION OF ST.
PAUL PROPERTY.
PLAN THAT'S BEEN ADOPTED
is THAT WHICH WAS SUGGESTED
BY w. A. SOMERS FOUR
YEARS AGO.
WHAT IT'S MAIN PROVISIONS ARE.
Text of the Document Which Is the
Basis of the Work I'm
Hand.


every piece of property in the city of
st. Paul has been begun. large
force was put to work yesterday by
County Assessor Seng under the direc-
ton of w. A. Somers, and, when the
coming real estate assessment is made,
it is expected that the taxation will
be more equable and the basis more
nearly correct than that on which any
previous assessment has been made.
There has been a good deal of con-
lecture as to how this would be done.
1t can be stated that the suggestions
made by w. A. Somers in a commun-
1cation to the board of county COM
m1ssioners in April, 1892 and which
was printed in the G lobe at that
time, are now being followed out to
the letter. That communication is
herewith reproduced, and is as follows:
To the Board of County Commissioners
gentlemen: The question of an equal distribu-
tlon OF the burden which falls upon every
community in the care of the public business
is one that Is worthy of serious consideration
/ therefore wish to submit to you and through
you to the public, the following brief outline
OF an attempt to reduce to a system the dis
trlputlon OF that portion of the taxes which.
under our laws, is assessed against real es--
tate. 1870 ~
That it is impossible to take up each one of
the 26O, 600 different tracts of land embraced
witnln our city limits, and separately deter
nine a value for each, which shall be based on
any thoughtful consideration of the Questions
ana conditions necessarily contributing to eff
tect mat value, Is apparent to any person who
mas nao 10 do with the appraisal of property.
especially during the last two years. And anv
one VINO has ever acted as one of a board or
committee appointd or selected for the purnose
o of aepopIing value for any particular piece
mat 1t requires. careful thought much dis
cusslon and frequent changes from first ideas
DeIore conclusion can be agreed upon. And.
even II 1t were practicable to secure the sarv
Ices Of a committee of our best business naar
VINO would devote the time necessary TO deter
mine the value Of each separate lot. there
WouIo sun De complaint, because under the
present method there is no possible Way of
demonstrating the equity of their work. and
ahotner committee, composed of equally good
Judges, might find different result on anv
par1Icular tract, and, 1t being impossible to
compare the work as q whole, the door is omen
70 an manner Of complaint, and the arguments
winch may be advanced for a reduction of as
sesSment are unanswerable, there being no
ures. =" ''i0 nS-
, AS foundation-and-a means of Judging of
IA Tue WORK as applied to any particular tract, or
t ~ answer TO the complaint of any owner who
tnNnhs hlnseI aggrfeyed, me must have some
means, not only of comparing the particular
tract with its Immediate neighbor. but with ali
IN the district, and must go further and be
able to compare that district or Ioca1jtu LEI
another, and so on until all parts of tIa oit,,
are comprehended, and by the aid of which any
one can form an opinion as to the Character of
the work as whole.
THE ONLY POSSIBLE MEANS
oL getting comprehensive view of the
Whoie city, and at the same time an idea of
enS relatlVe location and size of the MANY
dlHerent tracts or parcels into which the cityy
is supdlVlded is by the use OF a man. and
II we can find way to indicate upon this
tions, districts, neighborhoods and narcaIs
we snail have before us visible and tan
glple means OF judging the character of the
work done by the assessors.
upon inquiry l find that such a scheme
has Teen employed by our state board of
equalization. which used a map of the state
upon which was indicated as unit of
value, the prices per acre reported by the
various town assessors. ,and,i I .unaepstand
from gentlemen who were members of that
board that it was fotfndi to- be of great as
slstance and enabled them Ito quickly and ac-
curately adjust and equalize the values of
lands in adjacent towns.
Without going into the difficulties that were
encountered in the solution of this problem.
1t is SUFFICIENT 20 say that the use of map
OF this kind is made practicable by assuming
as unit the frontage value, value per
front foot, for some uniform depth which
unit of value can be marked in dollars upon
every street, and in front of every block If
y
rounding or topography tend to change the
value. This unit is one with which all prop
erty owners are more or less familiar, and
can be readily used in making comparisons
in all parts of the city.
The question of determining from these
figures the relative value of the several par
cells into which a block is divided was a
difficult problem but it has been solved and
the method of It's application is SO simple
that any Intelligent school boy may be taught
in few hours to use it, and, with mathe-
NAUTICAL accuracy, determine the value of
each piece of land in block the frontage
value on the surrounding streets first having
been fixed, and the block and its subdiyi-
sions being rectangular in shape.
THE QUESTIONS INVOLVED
in the preparation of this plan were: First
the relative value to be added in case of an
increase beyond the depth adopted as the
basis; second, the value to be subtracted for
decrease in depth; and, third, the difference
in value in the case of property situated upon
two frontages, or corner property, as COM
pared with that which has but one frontage,
or inside property.
The question of the change OF value for in
creased or decreased depth can be quite easily
arrived at by constructing a table showing
the percentage of the frontage value to be
used to determine the value of any given
depth greater or less than the unit of depth
used in marking the map. OF course, it will
be necessary TO use more than one table, be-
cause the different uses and conditions Of
property will give different value to any
change in depth; but If it shall be found
necessary to use ten different tables, a mark
be made on the map to designate which
table shall be used in subdlvlding each block;
and we have reduced the application of opinion
or judgment from 100000 times to 10 times.
In regard to property situated on corners, a
scale has been devised, upon which, by find
ing the line corresponding to the frontage
value Of the street forming one side of the
block or corner in question and following this
line out and up to its intersection with an
other line which corresponds to the frontage
value of the street forming the other side Of
the corner, the value in dollars of lot of
some fixed width and depth on such corner is
given, by any convenient scale of dollars rep
resented by horizontal lines. AS before stated,
one scale will not answer, but we must use
several, because the proportionate value of
corners as compared with the frontage value
may be different in different parts of the city
and under different conditions of use.
IN THE APPLICATION OF THIS PLAN
the first step is to mark upon the map the
figures indicating the frontage values; and,
while this looks like a work Of sofae magni-
tude, 1t can, by proper subdivision into dis
trictS, be done in comparatively short time;
then be examined. criticised and corrected by
any committee that may be selected for that
purpose.
The next step, the determination as to the
comparative value of the different depths of
property, can be carefully studied and agreed
upon by any number Of our best informed cit
liens, and tables constructed in accordance
with their ideas. Then the question of the
relative values of corners can be treated in
the same way Thus giving the city the bene-
fit of that Judgment and wisdom which it
would be impossible to employ for the pur-
pose under any other plan.
Having settled these questions in this way,
and being able to apply this mature Judgment
to determine the comparative value of each
OF the $50, COO lots or parcels of land in the
city. by a purely clerical application Of Ger
tain fixed rules, it will be readily admitted
that we have made a very long stride in the
direction of that panacea for most of the ills
of the heavily burdened property owner
equality Of taxation.
It will be claimed by MANY that 1t is imDos-