The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-10-24

DECISION NOT POSITIVE YET
Returns Show That These Towns Are
Not up to Standard Set in Other
Towns and Officials Wish
To Treat All Alike

Supervisor of Asses sments William
H. Harrison has begun his annual
task of scrutinizing the returns of the
assessors of the various towns and in
the city and as a result of this exam
ination he is finding many glaring IN
equalities in the assessment and it is
Just possible that Kenosha will follow
the lead Of Racine county in asking
for a reassessment of the property.
In Racine county the state tax COM
mission has just declared for the re-
| assessment and the cost of it is to be
paid by the county. The work will
be done under the direct supervision
of the state tax commission. The
further the supervisor goes into the
books of the county the more he sees
demand to place the county on a
right footing. There is one thing
certain and that is that the supervisor
has discovered that there are other
places in Kenosha county except the
city of Keuosha in which there are
tax dodgers. In fact the real simon
pure tax dodgers are not residents of
the city, but of some of the towns.
In speaking of the matter this
morning Mr.. Harrison said, II have
just about reached the place where
want to order re~assessment of two
of the towns in the county, out can
not say that this will be done. These
towns are out of all reason, and there
should be something done to bring
them UP to the right place on the tax
rolls. We will, however, have to
wait and see how things turn out be-
fore we appeal to the State Board"
The cost of reassessment of all
of the property in the county would
be decidedly large, but it is thought
that if the work was done once by the
State Board mark would be set to
which the assessors could keep close
in other years, and it is possible that
with such a mark the assessments
made in the future would be nearer to
the true value of the property. The
town of Randall is the one place in
Kenosha county where everyone
seems to be willing to admit that the
assessors have done their full duty as
provided by the state law. and this is
the one town in the county where the
property is assessed at nearly the
true value.
The people Of Randall are not kick
ing on the assessment, and one Of the
leading men of the town when told
that the town was above the assess
ment per cent In the other towns of
the county, said: 1--WE don't care if
we are paying little higher tax than
the other towns. We believe that the
assessors have made an honest valua-
ton of the property in the town and
we are ready to stand by it and pay
taxes based on it. We feel that Ran
dali can set this example to the other
towns and that in time if the assessors
in our town continue to put us in at
full value, the other assessors will
follow the lead. "
1t is very certain that the lead has
not been followed by other assessors
in the past, but the assessment in
many of the towns and in the city
shows healthy increase. The great
falling off is in the personal property
IN some of the towns, and it seems
evident that in some of the towns a
large amount of the personal property
has been overlooked.