The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-10-01


values can be formed from considera
ton of the opinions held by all pers-
! ons having knowledge thereof. Such
an expression of judgment is properly
! called community opinion. Community
| opinion is essential to an accurate as
] sessment.
! But under present conditions it is
| as impossible for many citizens to ex-
! press their opinions regarding land
! values as it was for the workers on
! the Tower of Babel to comprehend one
! another. The difficulty in obtaining
! community opinion is due to the alb
sence of a unit Of quality for the
! measurement of land values. An eX-
preston of opinion that a front foot
! Of land in a certain block is worth
/ $500 a. foot does not mean anything
until it is known how deep that front
! foot is: how far from a corner it is;
! whether it runs to an alley or has an
alley beside it; and whether 1t is reg
ular or irregular.
Opinions relating to different things
] cannot be intelligentiy compared. In
order to overcome this difficulty the
/ Somers system provides a unit of
| quality for the Measurement of land
values. 1t is to the assessor what the
yardstick is to the dry goods merchant
the ton to the coal dealer, the quart
to the milkman, the pound to the gro
Ger. Imagine for a moment the con-
fusion worse than that Of Babel which
would result should every merchant
adopt a yardstick of different length.
"A. unit7foot is a frontage of ground
one foot wide and 100 feet deep, To-
Gated in the central section Of a block
at q distance from any street corner
or other influence that might effect it's
value, other than that which it obtains
by reason of access to life and bust
ness of the city through its own front
age.
Eliminate Confusing Factors.
BY the use of the Somers unit foot
in obtaining expressions of judgment
! 1t is possible to accurately obtain com
munity opinion. BY it's use the con-
fusing factors Of size and shape are
also eliminated as in the unit foot
these factors are always the same.
I'VE have thus seen that the work
of the assessor of land values is OF
two kinds. First the mental operation
of appraising which cannot be elm
mated by any system but can be sim
plifed; and second, the mathematics
operation Of apportioning that judg-
ment to each lot in accordance with
its size, shape, and relative location.
This operation is mathematical and
should be solved by mathematics-not
guessing. How the Somers system
substitutes arithmetic for guessing
forms the second part Of our inquiry.
when the assessor aided by COM
naunity opinion has expressed his
opinion or judgment regarding the
values of unit foot on each side of
any block the assessment of all prop
in that block G SOn1nIafa The
balance Of the work is performed by
clerks. AS some lots are longer and
some shorter than 100 feet, the unit
depth, rule of scale for apportioning
values for different depths is needed.
By tabulating selling prices, rentals,
opinions of owners and real estate ex-
Ierts for lots of different depths com
pared with the standard or unit depth
of 100 feet, Mr.. Somers constructed a
curve or table OF percentages showing
the relation for every foot of depth
from one to 700. AS examples, the
percentage for 40 feet Is, 81, for SO
zoo feet 1.22. BY the depth table the
values of all regular inside lots are
CALCULATED.
THE next, and probably most i'm
portant and difficult Of the problems
70 be solved, is that of enhanced val
uation at and near corners. After
long investigation Mr.. Somers worked
cut what are known as the corner ia
bles. Corner influence extends either
way from the corner itself, growing
gradually less as the distance from the
cerner increases, until Il disappears.
This point of disappearance IS a
greater or less distance from the cor
rer and always IL proportion to the
.ffeer in combination of the values of
the units Of the two contributing
stress forming the corr Ell.
For practical purposes and irnag-
mary corner lot 100 feet square is
erected at the corner to be computed,
and this imaginary corner lot is di-
vided into 100 squares, 10 feet square
each, and each numbered in regular
order. Mr.. Somers has by mathema-
tics arrived al the value of each of
these squares under all the possible
variations of relation. between the
values Of the two streets forming the
corner. By diagramring any actual
lot upon this imaginary" corner lot
and adding up the values Of all the
squares and parts of squares inside
the actual lot lines the value of the
actual lot is ascertained. In similar
manner the values of lots at and near
acute and obtuse angle corners are
found.
The values of irregular lots are
figured by means OF zone tables which !
show the values, compared to the |!
values Of the unit, or small zones into !;
which irregular lots are divided for !
purposes of calculation. |
When lots extend from one street !
10 another there is a point where the !
TIVE reeeding values meet. This place !
is called the point Of overlap. Its ex- !
act position in all circumstances is !
found by the overlap tables. /
The effect Of alleys upon abutting !
properties is to enhance their value.
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