Newark post., 1910-09-21
SCHOOL TAX IN NEWARK
Compared With The School Tax In
Other Towns In Delaware
DR.. Gil6llan writes on school tax a:

/ follows:
Freaue1tlv have heard the state
| ment that the assessment for school
tax in Newark was higher and the rate
per Hundred also higher than in any
other town in Delaware. 1t is very
easy to make a guess, but guess has
very little weight 1t occurred to me
to write the secretaries of the school
board in number of towns and learn
just how they made up their assess
ment and what was the rate on the
hundred dollars Of assessment.
| received thirteen replies and | will
try to summarize these and compare
with that OF our town.
New Castle has ain entirelv different
way of assessing and also of collecting
the school tax. The assessment is
made on the actual value OF both per-
sonal property and real estate, and
also the rate of person or poll tax.
The latter $500 for each person. Then
the rate per hundred is ST.2o, and of
the total amount 4S per cent. goes to
the School Board As 81 per cent. of
the tax goes for other purposes no
comparison can be made between New
Castle and Newark, as we do not
know how the 81 per cent on the
above basis compares with the other
taxes which the people OF Newark pay.
The other twelve towns from which
| have replies make the assessment
for school purposes on the same basis
as is done in Newark. The first aues-
, ton which was asked of them and to
which they replied was 'for rental
; value how close is the assessment made
to the actual rental?' The following
replies were received :--Delaware City
Actual rental value Georgetown
-" Actual rental value" Smyrna
Full value" Townsend-"A Actual rem
tai value" Harrington--"Full rental
value" Odessa II 6 Approximately
close" Bridgeville-''Very near ac-
. tual rental value" Middletown--"Full
, rental value" Seaford-Io per cent.
off" Mlford-"ActuaI rental value" "
, Laurel--"Ihe cheap properties assess
,, ment is about actual---n better ones
less than actual-disparity increasing
as value increases
BY actual rental value" in the above
, answers is meant the actual amount OF
: rent paid by the reutor, or what the
. property would rent for.
: In the matter of the assessment oi
the rental of the real estate Newark
: assessment is far more liberal to the
! fax payer than any of the above with
| the exception of Seaford. There is
: not quite 10 per cent. allowed off o.
: the actual rental, but there is con
cession amounting to between 5 pei
i cent. and 8 per cent.
y The Laurel mode Of assessment OF
4 the rental values is rather vague, anc
= it seems to me rather decided con
> cession in favor OF the rich person a!
against the poor.
:, The second question asked was "fol
personal property how near to the full
value is the assessment made?' Her,
: we find almost uniform valuation
:. The same amount is assessed to th
. same kind OF property in all the dis
tricts. There are only a few varia
e tons. In Laurel they assess horses a
- high as 5000, and in Middletown al
:, personal property is assessed its full
value, excepting farm stock. In Har
|. rington and Georgetown all persona
y property is assessed at full value. An
!. in Delaware City cows are assesses
:. at $4,000 a head. while in Newark an
>, most OF the other towns they are as
: scssed at $4,000 per head.
To the question what items are as
,s scsscd under personal property? tn
=, answers indicate that the same thing
:, are included in all the districts Horses
- - COWS, pigs, mules. sheep, etc, etc
Il Delaware City is the only exception
"a There an assessment of $500 to 500
= each is laid upon automobiles.
The question OF including automo
biles in the list of items to be assesse
l
4, sidercd bv the Board of Newark, an
, it seems no more than right that the
. should be included and [ would not b
surprised If the next assessment weul
-, include them in the fist of things to b
IN assessed under personal property.
i The fourth question was For rate
OF person-commonly called poll c
-, head tax--what classes and whf
- amounts to each?'
af Seaiord and Milfod make a diret
70 tax upon each person-thc former {
n $I.2o and the latter of So. The othe
&c towns make an assessment upon eac
pedson of so to So.
4c The fifth question was "What is tn
y rate per hundred dolars?" The al
as swcrs indicate that they vary all tn
Il way from so cents on the hundred {
| "a. 81 bu tHe iluitultu. LII dill t''WiS
is nearly the same size as Newark til
to rate runs from SI.7o on the hundred
+ S. 50 on the hundred
f. The rate of Newark on the hundre
is So. The towns that have as high {
an higher rate than that are--Laure
f. S2.25; Milford, 81 so; Bridgeville, s. 2
Smyrna, 81; Georgetown, $3.50.
The result Of the investigation
such as to show up Newark in a vel
favorable light Newark has had
steady growth for the last ten year
With the coming in of new famili'
or the number OF children has increase
1t the enrolment in the public schoc
xt Additional room, additional teacher
ae necessary expenses in all lines increa
oc ing the amount necessary to meet Il
"a changed conditions, have made it n
II. ~ T..