Arizona republican., 1913-08-01
MAR|COPA HAS
 HER INNINGS
Imperial County of State
 Up Before Tax Confcr- cnce On Questions as toI Methods of Arriving at| Valuations.


 Maricopa's innings is on The | Imperial county of Arizona has been reached in the regular order in the discussion of the Tax Conference and the investigation into the method of reaching the valuations in this coun- ty. as compared with those in other counties is still on, and will he taken up gain with the resumption of the sessions this morning. At the time of adjournment last night at II o'clock Chairman W. A. Mouer, Supervisor Luke and Assessor J. r. Bone were still collectively and individually on the grid.ron. the subject for ques- tions from every one of the visiting officials from the thirteen other counties of the state.
 II any one attended the conference last evening Jn hear humorous dis cuesion as to who is the goat. there being but one returned from Mari Copa county and that valued at $3. those persons We're among the dis sappoiuted. because the discussion failed to reach through the matter of the lands of the valley. Clerk Miller of the board of supervisors in rendering his abstract to the tax commission of the assessments in the county Jumped all the cultivated and uncuItirated lands. and showed fi- eurcs for 4Nl9N1o9 acres with valuation of $2o231.4So upon the land alone. &1.230.0SO on improvements for a total of 221.4515G0 which is more than the whole valuation returned bv half the counties of the state. This is more than thirty-five thou sand acres more than was returned last wear. and more than twice the valuation that was returned last year
 I-pon duestious the gentlemen stat cd that the probable acreage over which water could be distributed from the Roosevelt dam. when all the land had been accepted by the govern laent and the project was running to capacitv. will he in the neiehbornood of 230. 600 acres hut that at present onlv l67.o0o acres are being Watered bv irrigation and can he c.dssed as irrigated cultivated land
 The auestion then came how the value of the land and iMpr"NenentS was determined. and whether the considerations mentioned in cannec- tion with the sale of certain parcels had anv effect upon the value asses -ed against the land in the assess nent and equalization hN the county officials Mir. Bone explained that tba,- did not altogether In arriving at values he said he consulted prop erty owners and real estate mon. He explained that much iand was bought on lone time payments. which al- rh.ugh the final total of the pay n7ents was cash value of the land if couId not be called the present cash value. because in fl@urng a long time lustaIimeut proposition the seller pr owner had 70 figure for his protection as well as l" make the naz-nents so reasonable as [" be at tractiNe.
 It was explained also that ther" ,ra :, large number If farmers in inc vaUev who are settled on school lands who buy water from the re- cIamation service so as to cultivate their lands. and upon these lands the improvements were only assess cd In assessing improvements S'.Vo n4r acre i- added for alfalfa stands. because it is generally conceded that it can be put in for that much.
 The average assessment Der acre of au the cultivated. uncultivated and irrigated cultivated land in the comfy was placed at $42So. The occasion for this was that in certaIn sections of the valley, land is while under the project, water logged, and aIkaIfed which makes il N;.ueIeSS for horticultural purposes. His me tbod of reaching the value on gra- duation plan relative 10 the centeIS of population. was to figure the dis tance from the centers. Thus land near Phoenix was worth more than land away from the city, and in the same manner around Mesa or Tempe or Glendale is worth more than land away from those centers and still away from Phoenix.
 Both Mir Bone and MT. Mou"i however denied that there was any land under the project whether cuI- tivated or not or susceptible of cuI- tfvation or irrigation that had been assessed as low as $500 per acre. Mir Luke said that he had scripped some land in the valley outside "t the project recently paying three dol lars per acre for it, but that he now held it at ten, although there Is no water on it nor the chance of get ting any soon.
 shortly after this, the hour getting late the meeting adjourned. Earlier