Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-02
HAND IN TAXLISTS
Assessors are Now in Session at
 the City HaIL
THE FULL VALUE THIS YEAR

That is the Order of the Board-Here-
 tofore Lists Were Handed in for One
 Third or One Quarter the Value of
 the Property-That is All Changed
 Now and People Are Asked to Make
 Lt.- Out With Full Value.
 ThiL.- a,> rushing in the assessors office to-day anT this order will obs . tain until July l, but it is thought that the present board will not be there by that time unless the board of pub- lie safety gives them bodyguard. All property is being listed at it's fulL value and very few can agree with the assessors on this question, though, curiously enough, one man who had his property listed at $5,000 last year put it in at $25,000 to-day. The board will be ill session every week day and evening during the present month, and no matter what some people may think of the new plan, it will pay all to drop in and have chat with them. Rate payers who desire a little infor- nation regarding the new departure should call early, for the board cannot devote any time to lengthy explana-f tionS when the office is crowded with excited owners of real estate. all anx- ious to know what the board means. It is an important work and it is hoped that it will be performed in an honest, impartial manner.
 The method in use here up to the present time, of assessing property at one-third it's full value. has not been satisfactory and besides the law pro- vides that it shall be listed at it's full value, so that the lists that are now; being made out are the first we ever had compiled according to law. At remains to be seen whether it is best to ignore law in assessing property or adhere strictly to it. Some people whose valuations were raised last year feel that it is manifestly unfair to use this as basis in determining what the full value of their property is. For instance, a man who was assessed for $l5,O00 in 1900 and got raise of 3D. GOO in 1901 thinks that it is not using him right to list him at $60.O00 this year unless he had improved his prop erty considerably in the meantime or that it's market had advanced from other causes The same source of complaint exists among people who own small holdings. But it is pot fair to judge the work of the board of assessors before we know what it is. The board is composed uf men who have had some experience in this line of business and they ought to be able to arrive at an equitable adjustment of the whole question. People differ, and honestly so, too, they always have and they always will as to what prop erty is worth. A man might offer lis property for sale and not be able to get what it was worth. but that is no reason why it should not be listed at it's full value. This is where the owner thinks that he has a grievance against someone, and probably he has, for it is hard to see how anything can be worth more than it would bring in the market. The man who wants to buy says thing is worth so much, and the city. which does not want to buy, says through it's agents that it is worth more and compels you to pay according to it's valuation. But per-
 
 eral way any piece of property would not remain long ill the market at the figure put upon it by the assessors, ex- cept perhaps in sparsely settled dis tricts where at the present time land has mighty little commercial value. and the only way the owners can hope to realize anything out of it is by malz- ing an effort to hold it until things move fbai1 xuau which oaI,nnt Iaa y,,,,oI, Ianrr CT at the way the population of the town is advancing. Some of ns w!o are not yet very old can remember when the city dire tcr7 showed a pop uiation of only 29.JoO or 25 COG souls. Tae one just issued tells us that there a"a over 26,000 narn $ in the book. If this be so. and there ; 10 reason to dc ubt it, Waterbury as pc: uiation of something in tae neighborho0d of 56,O00. A few years more and it vii. touch the 100000 mark. and in the meantime they Tili i,e going into t.,e outlying districts and then these on the outside will have their inning
 People should not f.,onla disc,ur- aged over the new orGer Of things. If tLei property goes in at three or four tines more than formerly # does not imply that their rate bills take a cor- responding jump. If that were so. then the prophecy of Judge Cole, made a short time ago ill discussing the aI- legged needless manner in which public officials force expenses upon people of limited means, would surely come to pass. We should all take a hopeful view of the new system. We have been told that the old system worked to the disadvantage of the poor man, and that if property were to be listed according to law he would not have to bear more than his share of the bur- den of taxation. We have the change now and let us not rail at it until we know more about how it will operate than can be told at this time.
 The assessors are making a close in- quiry after personal property and if they do their full duty in this respect much taxable property, hitherto un7 known to them, will be put on the list. No one has any business to question his neighbours right to buy diamands and wear them, but the law says the owners shall pay tax upon them, and so long, as it does the man who puts his money into personal properVw should pay in proportion to what hU owns just as well as those wio have