Perth Amboy evening news., 1908-08-12
STATE BOARD
OF ASSESSORS
ON RAILROADS
Complete Work On-SeC0nd- Glass
Property Showing Big In
crease Over 1905.
TOTAL IS S74,O68,O57
Could Not Finish Within the Limit
Fixed by Law Date Fixed
for Hearings.
to the EVENING NEWS.

bpectUt 70 tHc ENkWfNE NEWS.
Trenton, Aug 12:- Showing an In
crease of $27.540,729 as compared
with the valuation In 1905, the State
Board Of Assessors has completed
its assessments of the second class
railroad property in New Jersey for
1906 and 1907, as provided by
Chapter Of the laws Of 1908 The
total assessments on this property
for 1907 are $74,063,057. while In
1905 the valuations were S45,522,-
S2S. The aggregate assessm ents for
1906 are $71,S40,887, an increase
over 1905 Of $25, ,318,559. The as
easements for 1907 present an in
crease over those of 1906 amounting
to $2,222,170.
Could Not Finish Sooner.
The law OF 1908 directed that
these assessments be made within
three months from the date OF the
approval of the act, which was March
last. At the end OF the three
monts, however. the valuations have
not been finished and the authorities
of Jersey City began mandamus pro-
ceedings to compel the State Board
of Assessors to comply with the act.
The board claimed that 1t was a
physical impossibility to make all
the assessments on this property
within the time specified Upon the
hearing on the mandamus proceed
ings the board showed to the satis-
faction OF the court that 1T had not
been dilatory, and the mandamus
was refused Following that the val-
uations have now been completed.
Situation Previous.
The sifuatfop laadfnu nm IN fhfa
.re-assessment of the second-clasa
railroad property is as follows The
legislature of 1906 passed an act re-
moving from the jurisdiction OF the
State Board the assessment of Sec
ond class railroad property and plac-
ed In the hands of the local taxing
authorities Under that act the lo-
cal authorities levied the assessments
in their respective taxing districts
for 1906 and 1907 The act or 1905
was attacked BY the railroad com
panies and was declared unconstitu-
tlonal, thus nullifying the local valu-
ations for the two years. Then to
meet the existing conditions the leg
islature passed the act of 1908 di-
recting the State Board to make the
Te-assessments for the two years.
Difference Accounted For
Although the assessm ent Of 1907
shows an increase OF more than $2,-
100000 over 1906, the tax levied for
1907 is $402,344.43 less than the tax
of 1906 This is accounted by the
operations of the Hillery maximum
tax rate law which has reduced the
tax rate in most of the taxing dis
tricts in the state The tax on sec
ond class railroad property is based
on the local rate in each district.
The State Board of Assessors hav-
ing completed these assessments
State Comptroller West will compute
the taxes due each taxing district
throughout the state. then after the
money is paid into the state treas
ury by the companies, the sum due
each municipality will be distributed
to 1t.
Time for Hearing.
Tuesday, August rs, has been
fixed by the State Board as a time
for the hearing Of any appeals that
may be filed by the railroad com pam
les from these assessments. The
board is now engaged In making up
the valuations of the second class
railroad property for 1908, in order
that these valuations may be added
to the ratables of the respective dis
tricts. The taxing districts viii re-
port to the State Board their respects
i've tax rates / norder that the tax
may be computed The tax will be
collected by the state comptroller
and then remttted to the munieinaff-