The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-01-28
AUTOMATICALLY FAIR
 TAX ASSESSMENTS
Cleveland's Experience with Somers' System Home
 Owners Save $2,500, 900 In Taxes-Unit System of Valuation.

(By Frederick c. Howe, Member of
 the Board of Assessors of Real Property for the City of Cleveland)
 Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 Burean.)
 The total taxes collected in this country-national, state and munich pal-amount to about $1,800, ,O00,0 ,000. Of this sum from seven to eight hun dred million are raised by local au- thorities from real estate; The prop CT appraisal of real property. for To- cal taxes affects therefore from 20 to 40 per cent. of our entire reve- inues. The problem of securing equal ity as between individuals, and the full valuation of property as between the property owner and the statate has been looked upon as more or less insoluble.
 Up to 1910, in Ohio, assessments were made every ten years. The ma jority of states assess every two Cleveland were due partly to the de- cenial assessments but more largely to the fact that we elected in each one of the assessing. districts an or ficial, who appraised his own partlc- ular, locality Over the districts there was a Board, which endeavored to secure equality as between these appraisers. The local appraiser tried to satisfy his neighbors and const1t- uents and each district tried to keep valuations down as low as possible.
 Not only were there great diver gencies in assessments in the resi- dence districts but the undervalua- ton in the business section was so great that the Cleveland Board in completing it's report said that under the new valuations the annual saving in taxes to home owners would be in the neighborhood of $2,5OO,OO0 year. In some localities manufactur- ing property land was on the tax du- plicate at cents per square foot. It was placed on the tax duplicate by the new assessment at something like 50 cents per square foot. D In 1909 a law passed providing for the quadrennial appraisal of real es- tate. It provided also that the old district appraisals should be abolish ed and five officials elected in every city to value the property within it. It also required that every individual should be served with notice not ossly of his own appraisal but or that of his neighbors.
 that all property shall be assessed at its full value in money. No coun- | ty had attempted to do that. The Board decided at once that it would assess land and buildings at their market value though this meant that than it's share of the direct state tax as the other counties do not assess at full value.
 The board mad three alternatives One was to employ and send out in the community district men more or less familiar with land value and then to revise their returns. An ] other was to employ experts from among the real estate men of the city and pay them large salaries for making valuations. We concluded that the testimony of real estate ex- perts is about as unreliable as any other testimony as there are bulls and bears among them.
 So the board employed Fdr. Somers. who had been connected with the New York Board of Commissioners of Texas A chief engineer and an architect were secured as assistants to Mr. Somers. The first step taken was to map out rough block lines in the central part of the business dis trict. We sent out notice to all Q. the property owners of that district to come before the Board. The first point taken up was. Where is the most valuable spot in the city Of This was easily settled and probably, would be in any coni- munity. A number of census takers were put on various corners to take count of the men and women who passed by during certain hours of the day as a method of confirming the common opinion.
 By the aid of leases taken from the , county pscor6s, by the sales of prop !