Morris tribune., 1912-10-11
THE COUNTY ASSESSOR.
The Bill Proposed and Benefits
Expected.
XXXvII. THE COUNTY ASSES,
SOR BILL.

The bill establishing county as
SCISSOR in each county, in place of the
23OO or more local assessors, which
was submitted to the last two Iegisla-
lures. and will be again submitted to
the next legislature. is too voluminous
to be here set forth in detail. Many
verbal. but otherwise immaterial,
changes in the existing laws are neces-
sary 10 make them conform to the pro-,
posed measure. and most of the Sec
tions of the bill are of that nature.
The salient and most important
features of the bill are as follows:
LIST. The abolition of the office of
local assessor Except in cities where
it exists by virtue of special law or
charter) and the substitution in it's
place of the Office of county assessor
in each county. These county asses
sors in the first instance are to be ap-
pointed by the county boards of the
respective counties at tkeir regular
meeting in July 1913 and. hold their
Office until the general election in
1913, when, and every four years
thereafter. such assessors are to be
elected by popular vote the same as
other county officers are elected. But
cities which retain a city assessor un-
der their charters cannot participate
in the election of county assessor.
End. Such county assessor must
be resident of the county. and must
give bond for the faithful discharge
of his duties.
3rd. Where necessary, and under
proper restrictions, the county asses
sor with the consent of the tax COM
mission can appoint deputies to assist
him. not exceeding one deputy for
each 5000 of the population of jthe
county excluding the cities aforesaid.
All assessors and deputies are to be
under the direction and superVi ision of,
the tax commission.
4th. The assessor must devote his
entire time to the gathering of in-
formation and data for and to the
making of his assessment. He can
not hold any other office nor engage
in any other business.
5th. He is to receive a reasonable
salary which is based both upon the
population and upon the area of the
county. 1t may be said generally
that such salary will be little less
than the present salary of the county
auditor or county treasurer. The com.
pensation of deputies is to be deter
mined by the county board.
Such are the most important pro-
visions of the bill. 1t is believed that
such an assessor. secure in a long
official term with reasonable salary.
being free from local influences and
not intimately connected or associated
with the persons whose property he
is to assess. will be able to make a
fairer and better assessment for each
town and for the county as a whole
than can be made under the existing
system. Devoting his entire time to
the work of his Office he will be con-
stantly gathering the facts and data
upon which to base his assessment.
and will familiarize himself with the
property. real and personal, of his
county and with the values thereof.
Real estate, farms, and city lots can
be mapped and plated; the character
of the soil and the nature of the i'm
provements fairly ascertained, and
valuations made approximating ac-
curacy. Tangible personally can be
similarly inventoried and classified.
With few years experience such
an assessor, if man of ordinary in
telligence, will become an expert in
valuations, and every taxpayer will
have the satisfaction of knowing that
| his property as we'll as that of his
neighbors is assessed according to it's
merits, and not as a matter of fav-
oritisrn or mere guess work.
| AS before stated, the object of the
proposed bill is not to secure higher
or lower assessment, but a fair and
uniform assessment The important
thing is that all taxable property be
put upon the tax list; that it all be
measured by the same yardstick and
valued upon the same basis so that
one mans property shall not be over
valued and another's undervalued !;
that he who has been paying too much
! tax shall pay less. and he who has
been paying too little shall pay his
full share.
j. w. COPELAND. of DAYTON nhin