The Ocala evening star., 1915-09-02

Mr.. John ). Taylor, member of the
board of county commissioners OF
Pinellas county in which he says:
GAS a matter of fact, our millage has
not been increased in Pinellas coun-
ty." Herewith / am enclosing a letter
from Mr.. T. F. Mccall, a former
member of the legislature from Hills
borough county, and now a resident
of Pinellas. Taxpayer.
Mr.. McCaII's Letter
st. Petersburg, Fla, Aug. 81.
Mr.. ]. NJ. Gornto, Williston, Fla.
Dear Sir: Your inquiry received.
Replying to same, beg to say that
taxes in Pinellas county have doubled
several times over what they were in
Hillsborough.
For 1915 the state and county mill
age for Pinellas county is about "a
mills. The city millage for st. Pc
tersburg is p mills. The millage for
the town of Clearwater is 25 mills.
Thus, the town of Clearwater has SO
mills and St Petersburg has Sc mills.
So, you can readily see the burden of
taxation is enormous.
/ opposed the creation of Pinellas
county for the reason / foresaw that
il Pinellas was created, our taxes
would be doubled several times, and /
felt sure that the benefits we would
receive from having a new county
would nothing like equal the cost Of
the new county, and the public re-
cords will bear this statement out.
Now, as to the $4,000 indebted
ness that Pinelias county inherited
from Hillsborough, the supreme court
of Florida has recently decided that
Pinellas county will have to pay Hills
borough the inherited Indebtedness.
/ understand that, if Bloxham county
is created, she will inherit approx
mately $4,000 Indebtedness from
Marion county; and while some Of
your people argue they will not have
to pay Marion, they will awaken to
the fact sooner or later that they are
mistaken, and that Bloxham will have
she inherits from Marion and Levy.
| have resided here for twenty
years, and am perhaps one of the
largest taxpayers in Pinellas county,
also having owned property in this
part of Hillsborough before Pinellas
was created. / am therefore in a
position to know that our taxes in
Pinellas county have doubled several
times over what they were i'm Hills
borough.
The benefits that we have derived
from the creation of Pinellas county
are very, very few. We have only a
few miles of hard surfaced road that
were built by Pinellas county. We
have no permanent court house nor
Jail; in fact, practically nothing to
show for the enormous increase Of
taxes we have had to bear.
/ am very much afraid that after
we build our system of hard roads,
build court house and Jail and do
other improvements that will be abb
solutely necessary, that the burden of
taxation will be so great that a poor
man cannot own property in Pinellas
county.
There was more property sold for
taxes in Pinellas county this year
than has been sold in Hillsborough
county in any one year This is con-
elusive proof that the burden of tax
alton is enormous, but nothing like
what it will be when we build a court
house and Jail and complete the other
improvements.
/ don't see how in the world the
people of Bloxham county can expect
to maintain a county with only ST.
$4,000 in assessed valuation of prop
erty. When Pinellas county was
created we had approximately $3,-
100000 in assessed valuation of prop
erty, and now we have 100000
While some improvements have taken
place since Pinellas was created, the
improvements nothing like equal the
100000 increased valuation on the
tax books.
WV aS u Soh inquiry dS "
whether or not the actual cash values
of property have increased in pro-
portion to our taxes, / will say they
certainly have not. The only way our
pl operty has increased in value down
here is on the tax books; and if Blox-
ham county is created, you will find
that your increase would also be on
the tax books.