Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1912-11-18

sessment, was called and said that in
all instances the board attempted to
assess all property at its true value
and that in making assessments COM
parison of sales In the vicinity, espe-
cially recent sales were made.
He said in response to question
by Mr.. Duffield that the city was di-
vided into five districts, one to each
commissioner. He said further that
| Commissioner John Howe had made
the assessments of the Prudential
property.
Mr.. Howe was the next witness
called and said he had been a member
of the tax board for nine years and
said he had made the increased as
sessments in question and that they
had been concurred in by the full
board. He said further that the
board took fully week to decide on
the assessments of property on both
sides of Broad street between Me-
/ chanic and Commerce streets.
A question by Mr.. Duffield as to
whether the figures as assessed by
him had been the figures finally
adopted by the full board was OBJ
jected to by Mr.. Boggs on the ground
that Mr.. Howe was testifying as a.
| member of the board and not as an
expert
| Based on Land Values.
A. Wildriek Swain, Moses Reich
man and Thomas ]. Preston, the
other members of the board, all tes-
titled that the 1912 assessments
against the land property of the Pru-
DENTAL as made by the board were
| the true land values.
Harrison Van Duyne. the veteran
real estate dealer, then qualified as
an expert for the Prudential. the
| the first one to be called. Mr.. Dufield
jumped right into comparisons of the
values, taking as his first example
the corner of Market and Broad
street. He told Mr. Van Duyne, that
| the PRUDENTIAL property on the north
west corner of Broad and Market
streets was assessed at 81. .430 a foot
| frontage, while the property on the
| southwest corner was only assessed
at sl2,Oo0 a front foot more than
So'oOo less than the Prudential prop
! erty.
Mr. Boggs was on his feet in an
instant with an objection stating that
such comparison was unfair unless
the depths. of the different properties
in question was considered. A rather
warm argument between MIR. Boggs
and Mr.. Duffield, with Major Bentz
getting into the game every little
while followed.
The question was finally allowed
by the board and Mr.. Van Duyne
answered Il don't think it is pos
sible there is any such difference in
the foot frontage value of the two
properties [ even think $4,000 is
high for the southwest corner"
Explains Values
Mr.. Van Duyne then went on to
explain: THE Firemen's building
corner is assessed at 9,700, the new
! Kinney building at $40, $50, both lower
than the land value placed on the
west side of Broad street In my
opinion $4,000 a foot frontage would
be fair valuation for the Pruden-
tial property.
The question of l57 Market street,
! u LOT with a twenty-foot frontage,
was then taken up, the assessed value
being $4,000 a foot fgrontage A com
parison was made with a piece of
| property opposite, assessed at 81. ESQ
a foot frontage.
! In reply Mr.. Van Duyne said: "I
recognize there is a diffe renee in
values on the two sides of Market
street, but not as much as the differ
ence shown here"
Seemingly wen pleased Mr.. Dufield
jumped back to Broad street and had
Mr.. Van Duyne make land value
comparisons on the west and east
sides of that street. No. 783 Broad
street, owned by the Prudential, was
compared with 77S, on the opposite
side of the street. The Prudentia
property is assessed along Broat
street at from 81, 200 to s1s 160 foo
on the east side are assessed at from
S6.lT0 to $1,000 foot frontage.
Land Worth $4,000 Per Foot
Mr. Van Duyne said: There is nj
such difference in land values per foo
on opposite sides of Broad street.
should say in my opinion that $500
q. foot frontage would be a fun vaIu
for the Prudential property"
He called attention to the fact tina
the Prudential property at III Broa'
street was assessed s12.S15 foo
frontage, while the Howard Saving
Institution, across the street, at re
was assessed only at the rate o
$7.020 a foot frontage.
He next compared the assessmen
on the original Prudential site on th
southwest corner Of Broad and Ban