The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-22
STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
WILL. CONSIDER THEM DURING
THE DAY.
MINNEAPOLIS is A PUZZLE.
HEAVY CUT IN REALTY VALUES
STUNTS LOCAL. AND STATE
BOARDS.
ST. PAUL is IN BETTER SHAPE.
Its New Valuntions Having Been
Reached byaa New, But Fair
Processes Seemingly.

minneapolis will occupy a good share
of the attention of the state board Of
equalization today, the Mill City hav-
ing been set up as a special order for
this morning. The board will meet at
o'clock and the first hour will be spent
with City Assessor Plummer, of that
city, going over the map Of the city
and the assessment figures that the
members of the board may fan1iliar1ze
themselves with the statistics of the
city preliminary to hearing the COM
mittee from the Local Tax league which
wants the assessment left as low as
may be in that city
The tax question in Minneapolis, how
ever, is seriously complicated. Attor-
ney General Childs had laid before him
yesterday some figures which show up
q peculiarly puzzling proposition for the
board. In 1894, the realty in Mime
apoiis was valued at $4,000, 900: the
structures at $55, 200, 600; this year the
local board of equalization cut the yalu-
alton Of the realty down to s55, OOO. 600,
leaving the structures practically the
same, $35, 100000. which allows some
thing for new buildings. The figures
were laid before the attorney general
with a view to securing from him an
opinion as to whether In raising the as
sessment Of the county, if the board
should decide to do there as 1t had in
the other counties of the state gener-
ally, whether the raise would fall on
the realty alone, or on the structures.
II on 1T must be, Is it required by law
that the raise shah apply on ali real
property, structures and lots alike, then
the state board of equalization not
only undoes what the city board had
done, but perpetrates new Injustice
in endeavoring to remedy what it con-
siders the inequalities of the old origl-
nal valuation. The law, however, seems
10 De reasonably explicit as to this
point.
st. Paul will also be taken up today.
Assessor Seng was on hand yesterday
with County Auditor Sullivan. The
CONDITIONS In this county are entirely
Inherent from those in Hennepin, the
assessment here having been arrived
at by a new system Of calculating val
ues: While in Minneapolis the assessors
hgures are reached by comparison
with the assessed valuation of former
years.
y. w. Hackett has prepared a table
showing the assessment per acre Of the
lands In the several counties of the
state, and Ramsey county, even under
the reduced valuations as made in the
last assessment, stands head and Shout
ders above her neighbors in the amount
OF her acreage assessment. The figure
is $S4.03 per acre, Hennepin comes next
with $29.lS, and the surrounding coun-
ties range in this order: ST. Louis.
Sll.74; Dakota, $1433; Washington, s14
Steele, $3.50: Scott; $10.32; Mower. s11. :
81. Nicollet, -s10.64. "a }Is .ss5lbsSil
Assessor Seng Is prepared to show
from his books how every individual
assessment in the city and county was
made. The assessment was made most
searching and thorough in the matter
or realty, and in the matter Of improve
nlerts. two expert builders and two ex-
pert architects made a complete ex-
animation of each building and the
consensus OF opinion formed the basis
Of the value. ~
I. With the exception of the three coun-
ties of Hennepin, Ramsey and SIT.
Louis, the state board is now practical
ly through with the realty assessment.