Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-11-05
Assessment Of City Property.

Bditor Of the Macon Beacon:
I beg to reply through your columns
to Mr.. J. z. Rives' article in your last
issue asking some one to inform the pub
lie as to the theory on which the board
Of mayor and aldermen proceed, when
they sit as a board Of equalizers to fix
and equalizs the value Of the property.
They proceed by taking into consider.
alton all information they can gather in
regard to a piece Of property, and then
liking a reasonable valuation on game.
/ judge that Mr.. Rives' real reason
for writing the article was because he
feels aggrievsd at the action Of the board
IS to the valuation placed on his own
pi operty and not in reality to elicit any
information for the benefit Of the public.
Now, let Ne see. BY comparison,
whether or not Mr.. Rives has been un-
fairly or un~rsssonably treated.
Mr.. Rivss' residence and Mr.. j. II.
Williams are about Of equal size.
while Mr.. Wi!liams' 10 assessed at
$4,000 and Mr.. Mves' at $3.50. Mr..
Williams gave bis in at $2500. and cor
tainly that Is fall value for 1t. Mr..
Rivss gave his III at $1,000. which is GER.
tainly under value for it and the board
exercised the right to place 1t at a fair
valuation. Notwithstanding Mr.. Rives'
protest. The location Of property has
something to do with its value and az
Mr.. Rives' residence is in close proxim-
ity to the school building, it is certainly
well located. Mr.. Rives asks compari
son with the assessed value OF his law
Office and Mr.. Shannon's livery stable,
his office being assessed at 5000 and Mr..
Mr.. Shannon's stable at $500. 1t is
hard to get at the relative value of
these two pieces of property. but II we
take Mr.. Rives' criterion OF value, the
cost Of each to the present owner, Mr..
Shannon's ought to be reduced. Mr.
Shannon gave S1151, for the stable and
Mr.. Rives gave $575 for his office; but
please distinctly understand it is not a
brick Office. Mr.. Riyes feels very much
injured because the assessor made the
mistake of stating that his office is OF
brick when in fact it is not.
Now, as to Mr., Shannon's residence
and that OF H.. l.. Owens. think Mr..
Owens residence at $4,000 is certainly
fair. Mr.. Shannon has a very much
larger house and lot and it may be that
he would not have been hurt at a some
what higher valuation, but to suppose
that il has valuation anything like
that suggested BY Mr.. Riyss IL alto
gether ridiculous. Mr.. Rives states
that 1t first cost $4,000 and then $4,000
was expended in remodeling .waterworks
etc. As to tho r%emodsling l should say
it did not cost exceeding $1,000. The
water works, l understand is very I'M.
satisfactory. Mr.. Rives makes great
complaint that his store house property
ia assessed at S7100 and bring, in only
SS5 per month, while Mr., Shannon has
store house property assessed at $500,
which brings in SAG per month. My an
swer to this is that they are about on a
parity, and that it is impossible for the
board to fix all property absolutely cor
rect. though | by no means admit. that
Mr.. Rives' property is ovsrvalued.
We are all familiar with the story Of
the man who wanted to cast the mote
out Of his brothers. eye. but was adj
vised to first remove the beam from his
ewn eye. When Mr.. Rives took mp his
pen to call attention to the delinquences
Of the board and to castigate the con.
science Of its members. we would nat
urally suppose that he had given in his
property with great care and conscien.
t~iousness. But did he do sol I will stats
focts and the psblic may judge. He
rave $2450 for tho store house adjoining
the Murphsy drug store building and
gave it in and has done 80 for the past
several years for $500. How q he
justify thisi He i, not willing to take
$500 for it and the law expressly says
that = person, when assessing his prop.
erty must give it n at what he would be
willing to take for it provided he wanted
to sell it. What Mr.. Rives seems most
concerned about is the valuation fixed
by the board on two OF the W. S. Fer
ris buildings at $500, but after wards re.
duced to $1,000. Mr.. Rives gave in Lis
half interest at $500. Mr., Dorroh, rep
resenting Pedro Curry put the other
half at $3.50, The board thought Mr..
Riyes' half worth as much as the other
and raised it accordingly. Mr.. Dorroh,
so the assessor reported, said that he
intended the I for a 2, or that the asses
sor read the 7 AS a 2, but the assessor
says it is a very plain 7. Now let us
look into the value Of this property. The
two stores rent for SIS per month, or
$3.50 per year. Allow $50 per year for
insurance. taxes and repairs and you
have 10 per cest net on %Sl000--the valu
ton fixed by the board. / suppose this
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