St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-01
WILLIAM DAWSON SUGGESTS TO
ASSESSOR sESG HOW III MIGHT
BE MADE.
STATE PLAN so MODIFIED
AS TO APPLY TO LOTS TN VARI0ya
PARTS oT TIE CITY. raE
idea
TT WOULD INVOLVE SOME WORK.
~ would FercfbIy Display Any
inequalities and Aszfst tHe
Fighting of WRONGS,

The following letter from waratara
Dawson ST. to Assessor Sena, beerfna
On the question of the Assessment c4
real estate, will be of interest to nxcp-
erty owners, fnasmuch as Mr.. Dawson
Is the holder of large amount Of
real estate and has given The Subject
considerable attention by reason of
the tact that he was for a long ttpnS.
a member OF the state beard Of ecueL
iZation:
your communication received and
contents duly noted. 7 futtv *pnrn-
ciate the difficulties Won viii htwo ~
MAKING fair assessment Tkeee ere
Two things that ought 10 ne 4,e54 W
view First, that we shessld heye A
perfectly equal assessment Of wa1I.ex
as netWeen each other, and tlse& each
piece ought to represent Its tyre value
nus; 2TSs d Inc same as every other DAece,
Inc second consideration se thai the
entire city of st. Paul and county Of
ramsey ought to be eoualized with
other property throughout the state
am satisfied that we are paying very
much more than our fair share of The
state taxes. 1 think that Under the
present assessment there IL are<,r
Deal OF inequality in this city. There
are many pieces OF property aseeeaed
Tor more than they are worth and
some assessed too low
men the state board of t-ouaIfZa-
t1on was first formed, 7 was a mem
Der or that board. When we met and
talked the matter over, we found that
1t was rather a difficult thing tn GET
an equalization from the mass of fig-
ures before US, as returned by the
several county auditors We concIud-
ed that the first thing we ought to do
was TO make a skeleton map. showing
each county in the state. Then we had
our clerks figure up the value of the
iand; say, for instance, If in Hous-
ton county we found the average value
OF land per acre to be $40, and in the
adjoining county of Fillmore So, and.
peHeVlng the land to be of the same
value. we saw at a glance that the
assessments We're unequal. Upon this
skeleton map we placed on each coun
ty In chalk what the average value of
each acre was, and. with this map be-
lore us, We did not find it very diff
cult to make the equalization.
L believe that the first thing that
ought to be done is to make a very
large skeleton map of ST. Paul show
ing each addition, and each block
IN each addition, and make it on so
large scale that the value of each
lot could be placed upon it in figures.
say, for instance, take West ST. PauI
ID
We found that lots in block ITO were
valued at $500 each, and in block III
at $4O0 each, you could at once, with
the eye, detect the inequality 1 would
nave this map in such position that
every man could go and examine the
value Of his own property as com
pared with that if his neighbours. It
is as difficult to make an equal assess
ment without the kind of map that I
suggest as 1T would be to study ge-
ography without an atlas
With regard to the value of the
property, the dull times we are pass
ing through make it more difficult to
arrive at values. as some lots have
been sold much below their value. |
nnd from statement which L received
from the comptroller that the CITY of
ST. Paul has decreased its debt ST.
452,926 in the last three years-that is
to say, it has decreased its debt from
taxation nearly half a million dollars
each year The present valuation of
real and personal property is S122,64
l0S, and, with deductions already made
IN salaries and other ways, the tax
levy will be reduced over 5000 .OOO. which
VIII be reduction Of nearly one-third.
Total tax roll for all pur-
poses, 1888. ............... 1901 426. ST
Total tax roll for all pur-
poses, INSTRUMENTATION. 1900, 4S5 90
5000 ee1 81