The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-07-17
MAYOR STORMS AGAINST INQUIRY

ney Daniel Davenport rendered ar
 opinion that the duty of the board i:
 to assess all property at its fair mar
 ket value.
 After this period the assessors, nom
 irally at least, began to assess prop
 erty under the above rule, which fs
 thsst stated in Section 2327 of the stat
 utes.
 It appeared that. according to the report of the present board of assess ors to Tax Commissioner Corbin,,. that | they listed in October, 1908. 1850 dwell
 ings, which they valued at 3S7 This was an average value of $4, I'll for each dwelling. It also appeared
 according to the figures of the tax commissioner, that the average assess | ed value of each dwelling house in | Hartford was $4,1S0, or S531 less than or $1,041 less than in Bridgeport, and 1 that in Waterbury the assessed valua- l tton of each dwelling house was S3,67O | or s334 less than in Bridgeport. Hart | ford assesses dwellings on the basis of 75 per cent. of fair value. but Water bury and New Haven assess on de- 1 clared basis of fair value.
 | The grand list of Bridgeport as re- ported for 1908 was s7s,3ss.o74. and 55.4 l tenths per cent, or more than half of | this sum is represented by the value of the 9,350 homes. which therefore | bear more than half of the tax burden of the city.
 Even more remarkable, as compared with the three other largest cities of | the state, was the extent to which land values are reached in Bridgeport. The assessors reported 4002 acres listed in 1908 at a total valuation of S6, 452,S17, making an average value, declared by the tax commissioner, of S1,612 an acre. The average assessed value per acre in Hartford was S530, in New Haven was s5s2 and in Water bury was $334. It appeared that land l values form trifle more than eight per cent. of the grand list, and land and dwelling house values together al- most 64 per cent. of the grand list. If the inquiry furnished a sensation other. than that supplied by Mayor Lee, 1t was in the remarkable differ ence between the values of property used for manufacturing purposes as determined by the assessors and as re- ported by the owners of such property to the United States government for the year 1904.
 The assessors valuation of such prop erty in 1908 was approxima tely $14, GOO, ,OO0.
 The value of such property as re- ported by it's owners to the United States government was S49. 1881, ,34S.
 This total, as it appeared in reports of the United States Census Bureau, that were introduced, is composed of the following items:
 
 Duiuihss' ..''.'--.''..-..--- I,I3o,IoO Machlnery, .-.-.-....-.-.... 13,O31,725 Cash and sundries, ...... 2637s 979
 MT. Knowlton said he had heard that manufacturing property was reported to~the United States government, but that it had never occurred to him to look at such reports to assist him in forming an opinion as to the general accuracy of his judgment as an as- sessor in valuing such property.
 During the further examination of MT. knowlton it appeared that the value of manufacturing property, re- ported by it's owners to the United States government, increased, in the five years from 1900 to 1904, inclusive 561 per cent, or $17.756, 900; or from s31, ,624, 900 in 19OOO to $49 3S1, GOO in 1904 It further appeared that the total present aSsed value of the property so reported is several million dollars less than its increase in value during the five year period.
 garding the action of the state board of equalization, which has increased the grand list of Bridgeport $6, 900, ,000 although it was claimed that all the property of the city was assessed at its fair market value according to law.
 His attention was called to the state ment of the Board of Equalization as follows: ''It has been necessary to add to the grand list of some of the towns because Of an acknowledged lower per centage of assessment on some special property, although an effort is made to keep the general property on a fair value basis.''
 MT Knowlton said that 1t was true that machinery is assessed at a fraction of it's value and that the increase of s6, COG, 900 might be due to such an un- dervaluation. This he said was merely an opinion.
 Mayor Reynolds was invited to ex- anime a statement which was printed in daily newspaper, Dec. 30, 19O7 in which he was represented as stating that the property of public service cor porations was under-assessed and im- properly listed; that manufac uring property was assessed at six-tenths of its value and that he had instructed the assessors in that year to remedy these wrongs. He said that he made the statement and that generally speaking it was correct. He did not | remember saying that the precise amount at which manufacturing prop erty was taxed in 1907 was six-tenths |