Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-17

Ohio county's taxes, S4A per cent. was on
town lots and buildings in the csy OF
Wheeling, and 1874 per cent. on iano and
buildings in the country district. In 1871
the Panhandle counties paid taxes on a
valuation of So, 5ss.1 S5, with the . va1u u 1Saa
the four Panhandle counties vaauations
footed up $S3, "a, 61S, and the State $2n,lof,-
The total valuation of railroads in 1897
was 1928 .O66. ~. OF the railroad taxes
paid, the distribution was as follows 100 70
City of Wheeling Pc %
Ohio county 70 IN "a
other counties and towns......... S2o,5o6 10
ro+o, sr2, 74s 50
Wheeling paid in railroad taxes $lo,6l2.Ss.
Ohio county paid 1864 per cent. OF the en-
tire taxation, exclusive OF enat pau pS Inc
railroads and insurance companies.
Mr.. Brady called attention to the i'm
portance of the facts presented in the
| report read by Mr.. Hazlett- He said a
man at a salary of $500 could not do
the work satisfactorily. He touched
upon the political phase of the mat
ter. and said the principal trouble is
| due to the fact that the States aHalrs
| are conducted by politicians instead OF
| business men. He said there would
be no complaint about the matter il 1T
were conducted fairly and uniformly
| throughout the state. He called atten-
| ton to the fact that some counties
| are already congratulating themselves
| upon the fact that their valuation mas
| been decreased. He read a letter from
| a prominent citizen of Parkersburg,
| which wa very pertinent to the sub
| ject, showing that the assessors have
| placed their figures on a much lower
| proportionate valuation than in Ohio
| county. He could not criticize the as
| SCISSOR if he felt he was doing his
| full duty under the law. The fault
| lies in the law itself.
County Commissioner H. P. Nc
Gregor said he thought the assessor
had e~ndeavored to fix upon two-thirds
| of the actual value. Mr.. Brady wanted
| to know if the county commissioners
| had any authority to fix upon a two
| third valuation, and Mr.. McGregor
| could not say the body had. Mr.. Brady
| said he favored a reduction of the
| rate to such an extent that the rest
of the state would not live off Ohio
county.
Mr.. McGregor stated that the assess
! ment of ten years ago was very frregu-
| lar. Residence property was assessed
to two-thirds of it's value, and bust
ness property was assessed at a much
lower rate. The work was done in a
very short time.
Mr.. Brady-Was he assisted in any
way?
Mr.. McGregor-Yes. in a way. but
| his work was nearly all done-prac-
| tically completed-before he consulted
the board.
Mr.. McGregor assumed that the
| Chamber of Commerce is interested in
knowing what can be done to remedy
the evil of which the property
complain. He suggested that a COM
mittee might be appointed to confer
with the Board of County Commits
| sioners. If it were found that the valu-
alton in certain blocks, or in individual
| cases, is too high, perhaps the board,
| sitting as a Board of Equalization and
| Appeals, might make a reduction. He
was under the impression that the
| board COULD sit at any time and take
such action.
A question arose as to whether the
| third copy of the assessors books is
now in the hands of the auditor, and
whether, If the auditor has his copy,
any change can be made in the fig
ures- Mr.. McGregor was under the
impression that the auditors posses
sion Of a copy of the assessors' books
would non affect the matter, and that
| the auditor would be compelled to
make such changes as might be certi-
fed to by the board.
Mr.. Brady's motion TO appoint q
committee of seven to wait upon the
Board of Commissioners. request an
early meeting q = board OF eQuaIi<a-