Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-05-19

ol Gaxaoie properly Win the Vhlua-
tions fixed as hereinbefore provided,
shall thereupon be adopted by tho
County Auditor for the purposes of
taxation for the ensuing year, and
shall be permanently entered of
record by him upon the tax books of
his county. .a
Now, there are eight townthips in
Oconee County, and the Township
Boards of Assessors are as follows:
Center Township. j. Haley, L.
O. Bruce and @. II. Miller. ..
Tugaloo Township--J. A. Cook,
Geo. e. Singleton and j. p. Powell.
Pulaski Township--G. O. Arvc, B.
@. Itotholl and N. Phillips.
Chattooga Township-W. II.
Mongold, j. S. Callas and F.. a. King.
Whitewater Township--J. l.. Talley,
J. II. Wiggington and d. d. Alex
andci.
K&owee Township-E. A. Perry,
II. A. Grant and J. N. Mulkey.
Seneca Township-W. M. Camp
bell, J. II. Reid and J. II. Long.
Wagenor Township-J. ID. Isbell,
ID. Il. McAlister, and Town of Wal
halla-S. N. Pitchford, G. w. Bauk-
night and j. J. Anscl.
Town of Westminster-W. l..
England, r. Z. Z Mason Mason aid 4. zi,u-
| mcrnan.
No Special Assessors were ap-
pointed by Governor Ellerbe for the
town of Seneca, and the work of
equalizing the assessments in that
town had to be done by the County
Board of Equalization.
The Township Boards and Special
Boards of Assessors for Walhalla
and Westminster met as required by
law, and endeavored to e1ualize the
assessments on tho real and personal
property in their respective jurisdic-
tions. 1t is natural and reasonable
to suppose that they found many
inequalities to exist The individual
owners return property indcpen-
IDENTIFY of each other. One man may
return his property at about its full
value, while another puts his down
at only one-half or two thirds of its
value. When this is the case what
can the Township Boards of Assess
ors do2 Why, simply raise the man
who has the lowest return and make
it equal according to value with the
higher return. These local boards
cannot reduce the higher returns,
they must raise the lower returns, and
when the increase amounts to rs
much as $50 the County Auditor is
required to give notice of the in
crease in the assessment, to the owner,
who has an opportunity to appear
before the County Board of Equal-
zation, where he has the privilege of
a full hearing. 1t is the duty of the
County Board to cqualizc the assess
ments between the various Townships
as well as those of individual taxpay-
crs. To do so acauratcly ly is necessarily
tedious and difficult, and it is not sur
prising that in q county with some
5000 taxpayers, considerable incqual-
tiles would be found to exist, cspc-
cially every fourth year when tho
assessments of both real and personal
property must be made, revised and
cqualized.
1t is only when the Township and
Special Boards of Assessors have
been careful in equalizing the pro-
pcrty in their respective districts that
there is much work for the County
Board of Equalization to do. 1t sits
rather as an appellate court, and n
way is open for the correction of
every mistake made by it by appeal
ing to the State Board of Equaliza-
ti0n.
The County Board of Equalization
this year was composed of A. Lay,
Chairman, J. j. Haley, J. a. Cook,
G. 9. Arve, w. II. Mongold, E. A.
Perry, j. l.. Tallcy, w. NJ. Campbell,
j. ID. Isbcll, S. N. Pitchford and w.
l.. England. The Chairman simply
prcsides, and has no vote except in
case of tie, when he would cast the
deciding vote.
j. O. Adams, County Auditor, is
constituted by law Clerk OF tho Board.
llo acted as such this year, and pre-
served full minutes of the proceed
ings. These are public records and
open to the inspection of every citi-
zen and taxpayer. | do not deem it
necessary to publish these minutes in
full in this connection, but would
respectfully invite every person hav-
ing the slightest interest in the action
| nf tho R~n,1 Al. n q