The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-24
|BIBB VALUES ARE TOO LOW Unsatisfactory Conditions Are Disclosed, sEDBRRRY FILES REPORT Tells Governor County Needs
 New Assessor. All ohacials, Except sheriff Crawford, Are Criticised and superin-
 tendsnt of Education ofacs
 in Confusion.


 From the viewpoint of the State admin istration the reports submitted yesterday to Governor Jelks by Assistant State Ex- aminer George F. 6edberry. show a very unsatisfactory condition of affairs in Bibb County:
 Sheriff E. H. Crawford is in fact the only official of the County who is not due the State money.
 R. H. Pratt. County Superintendent of Education. Is charged with gross careless. ness in the management of his office and Tax Assessor T. C. Wallace is reported I to be inefficient in complying with the laws regulating assessment of property l for taxes.
 It is shown that lands in Bibb, one of the richest counties of the State, are given in at an average price of s1.25 an acre and this notwithstanding Blob is the third coal producing County of Alabama.
 Examiner Sedberry does not mince words in discussing the property valua. tons of Bibb County and the manner in which the tax assessments have been made.
 Tax Assessors Work.
 In his report to Governor Jeiks Exam- liner Sedberry eays:
 T find the assessment books as prepared by MT. Wallace for the year 1903 practi- caiiy correct so far as the mechanical part Of the work Is concerned. As to the val uatton of property, both real and per- sonal, it Is far below what 1t ought to be -so low, indeed, that the entire tax re- ceived by the State from this County is barely sufficient to cover the account paid back to the County by the State for school purposes, pensions to Confederate sol- diers, etc.
 ''This ought not to be the case, espe- cially in a County such as this--rich and prosperous in mineral wealth, timber lands and railroad mileage, beyonds any other County in the State with only two or three exceptions. The valuation of property in this County certainly ought to more than double what it is now as- sessed at, and think the facts amply justify me in saying that 1t could and would be So If the Assessor would even half way do his duty. have talked with nearly all of the ofiicers and many citi- Eens who, without exception, agree with me in this opinion.
 "It is fact disclosed by witnesses, ex- amined under oath that the Assessor rareS ly administers the oath required by law to be administered by the Assessors to all parties who make assessments; and, further, he permits the property owners to fix the value of their own property. apparently without regard to its real value when the law plainly requires that self. --.sf y UnServaluation of Property.
 The assessed value of lands in the County varies from 50 cents to 8 per acre. averaging about $125, Thousands of acres, embracing the most valuable coal and timber lands in the County are own ed~by large corporations and are assessed at about the last named price, when it ia well known that $l0 to &15 per acre has been repeatedly offered and refused for them. -O
 T desire to call especial attention to the testimony of one witness examined by me. He was a country merchant. He testined that he sold annually about s7!0OO worth of goods The record shows that he paid taxes on only 800 stock of merchant dise This one fact is convincing to my mind that the County badly needs a new ana competent Tax Assessor and a new and competent Tax Commissioner as well. Below l hand you a statement of values as shown by the assessment books or 1903 to which invite your attention. IotaI value of real estate. including
 town property .,............$ 954,O36 TotaI value of personal property
 not including railroads ......... ES,sss Assessed value of railroad mileage,
 included under general head as
 personal property .. ......."... 1,04s, ,9S5 Totai assessment .. ,537. .3S7
 "On the above amount the State receives for general tax, $e.S4S47; special soldier tax 2y6d.Ss; special school. $7,6l2.1A To- tai. S16,4S29o."
 County Superintendent.
 Reporting on the books of County Su- perintendent of Education R. H. Pratt. Examiner Sedberry says:
 While there is no evidence or even in- dicattons that MT. Pratt has been guilty of any intentional wrong, 1t Is a fact that his accounts are in very. great confu- sion. He has not been careful in dlsburs- ing the school funds placed in his hands, he having paid out large sums of money to persons claiming to be teachers with out proper vouchers being filed by them. Tn some cases where vouchers were filed, he has overpaid them. At other times he has paid them without any voucher at all. at least there are very many cases wherein no voucher Or teachers report was furnished me.
 ''It is true Mir. F att has pay rolls signed in the name of teachers alleged to have been paid and has his bank checks showing that the money was paid them by the bank but in the many cases named below he has no reports whatever from teachers showing they had earned the money or taught the school for which they were paid. Hence the money paid them in such cases was done wholly with out authority, of law.
 'I. therefore. charge him with the vari- ous amounts paid out, amounting in the aggregate to $2T5.0S.
 Tt may be due to Mir. Pratt to say that he claims to have had vouchers for all of the several amounts charged to him, but has either lost or misplaced them. He thinks he can produce many of them If he Is allowed time to do SO.
 Many Violate Law.
 ''In closing this report, beg permission to report what have said in former re- ports on the same subject: It appears that some of the County superintendents' and many of the teachers as well, have an Idea that the school law should be compiled with in but one particular,
 which is that the State must furpish the money to pay teachers because the law says so. and that they should be allowed
 to dispose of 1t without regard to the
 plainest requirements of the law. It Is
 nigh time they were learning better They
 should be made to understand that they
 must render a full comp'Ste, exact and
 rigid account of all the money passtng
 through their hands as required by law.
 am sure this Is what the administration
 requires and will insist upon To the ac-
 complishment of this desirable end my
 best efforts shall be directed"
 Attached to this report is an eKhist