Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-05-13
THE SUSSEX ASSESSORS

/ FULL fhOChEDlNGS OF THE BOARD
A STRONG EFFORT TO EoUAIIzE
TAXATION. THE FARMER PAYS
THE TAKES. TRICKS THAT
DID NOT WIN.
The Sussex County Board of As.
SCISSORS met, pursuant to call, at the
Court House in Newton, on Friday
May 9th The meeting was called
to order at 1890 o'clock A. M. by
the Chairman, Mr.. John J Van
Sickle, of Sandyston George Har-
din, the Secretary, called the roll,
and found only Frank EmmaDs, of
Hampton, and Frank P Adams, of
Deckertown, absent. Theodore
GOble, of the new Borough of Brook
! lyn, elected the Wednesday pre-
vious, was also absent, though, |
believe he had not been sworn in.
The first business taken up was rel
ative to the Committee, consisting
of George Hardin, Abram Van Win
kle, and Simeon PARCEL, who were
appointed at the last regular meet
ing to solicit an appropriation from
the Board of Freeholders to carry
the Zinc Mine cases to a Supreme
Court decision They were dis
charged from further duty by unan
imous consent, on the ground that
the decision referred to had been
rendered by the Supreme Court
since the appointment of the Com
mittee, and is now Incorporated in
the report of the State Board Of
Taxation for the year 1897. The
Chairman read the decision, which
is in brief, as follows "The mar
kot value of a mine at a fair private
sale, and not the income of the
property is the criterion for asoer-
tanning its true value within the
constitutional provision that all
property shall be assessed for taxes
at its true value.
a resolution was then offered con
tanning with the above decision the
following preamble "And Where
as, the Assessors of the townships of
Hsrdyston and Sparta have hereto
fore assessed the mining properties
in their townships on the value
thereof, ascertained from the out
put of said mine, and not ON the
market value thereof, as decided by
said Supreme Court, therefore, Be
it Resolved, That the Assessors of
said townships of Hardyston and
Sparta be, and they are hereby in
structed to assess the mining prop
critics in their respective townships
at the market value thereof, to be
ascertained not on the output, but
at what such properties would bring
at fair private sale; and Resolved
that in the opinion of the Board of
Assessors of the County of Sussex,
the fair market value of the mining
properties in said townships, asoer-
certained on the basis as laid down
by the Supreme Court, is the sum
of 50, 600, 600 or over. Geo Har-
din, Assessor of Newton, began to
quibble at what he was pleased to
call dictation of the Board in as
suming to instruct the Assessc rs of
Hardyston and Sparta as to their
duties, and in naming stated sum
for them to assess on the mining
properties. The Chairman explain
ed that the Assessor of Hardyston
had expressed a desire to have the
Board meet, and to obtain their
Judgment on the matter as a guide,
and aid to HIM in the performance
of his duties, and the resolution
was intended to express the senti-
ment of the Board regarding the
mining properties, and nothing
more. Hardin suggested that ad-
iournment for dinner would give
members a chance to talk with
each other and aid them with their
decision. 1t seemed evident that
he opposed any real equalization,
of taxation on general principles,
either because it had become a
fixed habit, or else through fear
that Newton might be drawn into
the whirlpool of equalization, and
his assessments become the jibe of
the Board. The motion to adjourn
to one O'Clock p. M. carried, how
ever At one o'clock the Board
resumed its session, and by roll
call another member in the person
VI AAhA AAiillicilAH was lOulU pres
ent John p. Wilson, Chairman,
of the Town Committee of Hardy
stOn, asked permission of the Chair
TO express the Committee S views
of the matter. Mr.. Wilson pro
tested against what he claimed to
be the injustice of naming the
townships of Hardyston and Sparta
a nd oasAfpor ,aAaokfo,,e ,,,,,r, Af,,s-,
fair fame by pointing them out in
the resolution as special and par
ticular evaders of Just assessments.
That he knew of properties in
other towns that were assessed as
low as One-tenth of their value, vet
he admitted that there was under
valuation to some extent in his
own township that the Zinc Mines
were rated too low, though inti-
mating that if they We're raised to
the figures named, it would result
in expensive litigation. This is the
old old way of bluffing raise. At
the close of Mr.. Wilson's s speech,
Smith Simpson moved an amend
ment to the resolution extending
the taxing at value to all other
properties, as we'll as mining prop
erty. TIE Chair allowed the amend
ment, after being committed to
writing, and it was so passed. Har-
din now claimed the amendment
killed the original resolution, but
the Chair ruled to the contrary
After amending it so as TO read
81, $50, 600 instead of 81, 600, 600 the
original resolution was passed by a
vote of - to 2. Smith SimDsOn. of