Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-23

- Inv
Rush Promises to Contfnue-An
"ExpIanationo OF why One Copy
was Rushed to C~harlesfdhs
The revaluation of the realty of
Ohio county, as returned by Assessors
Helmbright and Maxwell, continues to
be a source of lively interest for
property owners, and y~esrerday, as up
on other recent days, there were many
callers at the Court House, and many
/ figures were jotted down as a base of
an appeal to the County Board of
Equalization and Appeals. All the in
dications go to show that many hun
dreds of petitions will be filed by peo-
! pie who haves no idea that. the State
Board can possibly afford an adequate
! measure of relief. even with the best
of intentions, and Notwithstanding the
change in the law from that of two
years ago.
1t was pointed out yesterday that
under the old law the board Simply
had the right to equalize the counties,
in the sense that if a certain percent
| age was taken off n county it must
be made up elsewhere, SO as not to dis
| turb the total revaluation of the
State, whereas now a reading of the
statute appears to give the board
power to make changes between
ties without regard to the effect these
changes would have upon the general
| total of thenState. If this interpreta-
| ton of the law is correct, there is no
reason why Ohio county may not have
such general relief as it is entitled to,
irrespective of the status in any other
county in the State, and that then the
| Board of Commissioners can proceed
with individual relief upon petitions
presented
Another phase of the result of any
horizontal reduction made by the
State Board possesses interest. While
I it is true that in most instances values
for taxation have been very largely in
c~reased,.in a number of cases the old.
valuation remains unchanged, and in
a few-very few, comparatively speak
ing-there were decreases. Both of
these last named classes will become.
beneficiaries of any horizontal re-
duction, and will thus be that much
Lo441. zee &han hafnro Thilo a cav
ten per cent, reduction will be of very
small benefit to the owner whose valu-
alton was doubled. This phase of the
case has attracted some interest, n
upon the assumption that there will be
a State Board reduction here, the few
who were not increased are congratu-
lating themselves upon the prospect
of slight decrease in their bills
for the next few years to come.
At the Court House yesterday. in
the course of a discussion over the
removal of one copy Of the books to
Charleston, a county official said:
"The removal of the books has been
! charged up to the Board of Commits
sioners. That is not true. The copies
were sent away by the assessors, who
cannot secure pay for their work until
the auditor has received the evidence
of the r~eva1uation, and it seems a lit
tie unreasonable to expect an asses
sor to hold back his books for two or
three months, and be kept out of his
money that long. The law says the
books shall be in the hands of the
auditor on or before April 1. I hap
pen to know that two weeks ago. ff-
teen or eighteen counties had reported,
and probably by this time half or two
thirds Of them are in. The assessors
want their money, and thus took steps
to get it. The Board of Commissioners
has nothing to do with that feature Of
the case"
There are those who differ with that
view of the case, holding that the law
contemplates the holding of the books
here until APRIL, and that they
should have remained, that public in
~terests might not be jeopardized in any
manner.
The special committee of the Cham
Der Of Commerce having the assess
ment matter in charge is very anx-
ious for a conference with the Board
of Commissioners. and a joint meet
ing will be arranged for as o as
possible.
yVhoeviu0 Iadv