Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1902-07-17
DICKINSON PAYING MORE THAN
HER SHARE TO THE STATE
Representative Grosser Presents mat
ter Before State Board Of Equallss'
tion-Assessmsnt Out Of Proportion
to Other Counties.

county and member Of the STATE 1aA
Revision commission, appeared yes
terday before the State Board OF
Equalization in behalf Of his county
and made comparative showing rel
alive to the assessment and equaliza-
tion Of real estate in Dickinson county
as compared to that OF adjoining
counties, and stated that the taxpay'
ers Of Dickinson county feel that they
are paying more than their proper.
tionate amount OF state tax, compared
TO that OF other counties; and while
the state board in 1901 increased the
valuation as reported by the county
clerk 173 per cent, that the average
assessment Of land for the year lSo2'
ss reported by the county clerk is
a. 40; in 1901 the same was equalized
by the state board at $5.l5, while that
Of Clay county was equslized BY the
state board at $3.50; Ottawa county
s4.25; Saline county $3.50; Marion
county s4.45; Morris county s4.l0,
and Geary county s4'65' he asked
that the assessment Of real estate be
not increased by this board but re-
main as reported by the county clerk
He also made showing that he
thinks Dickinson county is paying
more than its proportion Of state tax
as compared to adjoining countess
which state tax for the year 1901 was
as follows: Dickinson county, $29'7s9;
Morris county, sls,OS6; Marion coun'
ty, $26,9s9; Geary county, sl4'2oS'
Clay county, $ls,42S; Ottawa county,
$17,S29; Saline county, $25,655' and
on this basis be asks that the board
eoualize the assessment and give
Dickinson county fair and impartial
equalization as compared to that Of
adjoining ounties.-[Topeka Cap
ital.
Mr.. Grosser has returned from
Topeka and says he discovered while
in the auditors Office that land in
Dickinson county was being assessed
higher than other lands similarly Sit
uated. He says: 81 was in the state
auditors office last Friday looking
over the work Of the state board ol
equalization and found that the board
had completed most Of its work and
had raised the average assessed valu'
stion Of Dickinson county real estate
from s4.4s per acre, as made by the
township assessors and reported BY
the county clerk, to s5.l5 per acre,
''The only reason that the board
could give for this increased valuation
was that Dickinson county land wal
more fertile and therefore more valu'
able than that Of other counties
Secretary Coburn's reports for th'
year 1901, however, shows that Clay
county, which is smaller in area pro-
duced S5 per cent more corn thar
Dickinson; Marion county produced
over twice the corn we did; whit
Morris county, considerably smaller
produced nearly three times as muci
corn; Ottawa and Saline counties pro
duced less corn but each produced
more wheat than we did.
at is a fact shown by the stat
auditors reports that the value 0
land in the various counties OF thi
state is in inverse ratio to the numbe
Of cattle kept. That is because onl..
the poorer quality Of land is used fol
grazing purposes, and the land
therefore in the cattle counties SHOW
q low valuation. Coburns repor
shows that Dickinson county ha
within its borders more cattle thai
any surrounding county So tina
upon basis Of grain production o
cattle it can not be said that our lane
is more valuable or productive thai
other land in this section OF the state
Mr.. Grosser called the attention o
the board to these facts and they tir
ally admitted that our land had bee
rated too high. They refused to le
the valuation stand at s4.4s per acr
as our assessors had fixed it bu
promised Mr.. Grosser it would be rt
duced from what it had been last veal
Mr.. Grosser thinks the valuation wi
be fixed at about $i.60 per acre