The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1918-02-23
MR. THOMAS REPLIES

Gentlemen
beg to acknowledge receipt Of The
True Democrat. containing your article
of the 18th beg 60 advise that u is
ans intention to attend your meeting al
the court house. on SATURDAY the 23rd
instant. and will be very glad indeed 20
discuss with the taxpayers Of the par.
ish and any one else Interested any Of
the work OF car Board
wish TO say ia the first place, that
eur Board does not engage In any star
chamber" proceedings, but lts business
rs opcn Ut all times and everything We
Do is In public and ne ara ready aud
willing to hear any complaint and give
ii our very best consideration at all
times
am very glad TO know that the citi
zens are interested in the proposition
.of bringing about equality among the
Taxpayers of your parish So far as
the previous article that | wrote to
The paper Is concerned ! think If you
will examine il you will see that |
stated that the reduction Of the tax
VAS orCasionod by the y Of a mill com.
ing on for this year, and which vas
placed on Last year However the
Iamounl either way is very small as il
IL stated iH your article aud is insg.
uiGeant tn a consideration of the prop,
|osltiou
wish 10 say IN the next place that
the values of property as placed IN the
parish of West Feliciana were not
altered or changed by the BOARD of
State Affairs in the least but are pre-.
CispB the Identical values turned In
10 ms by the assessor. and approved by
the police jury az board of review
Ia so far as the land values and Inn
pruyemeuts are concerned As matter
Of fact we made enc oF twe reductions
la some Of the land values.
wish Ia say Furthermore that per
aoualg appeared before the police lufs
OF your parish early last year. and
begged their cooperation IN the adjust.
mont of inequalities between individual
taxpayers, az eur Raafd had no knoWl
edge Of these values. and couldn't
have. under the circumstances dealing
th over three hundred thousand tax.
payers Ia the State, aud the values as
returned IN your article are precisely
The ones rendered by the assessor and
approved hy the police jury
/ will say Furthermore that while the
| land values IN West feliciana we're not
Ichanged in the least. yet in the parish
Of East Felciana our Board raised the
land values twenty per cent through,
ont the entire parish for last year, be
cause they had not correctly classified
their lands aud had them valued, on q
whole, too Iow. 80 that the average
actual values of lands In East FelIeiana
we're placed at 1924 per acre.
/ As 70 your statement Of the names
Of the various parties published, while
| il is true they show various and suadry
values. al the same time We have no
personal knowledge that these values
Iarr not approximately correct and the
| difcreBcc IN values Of property proves
nothing unless II is an actual fact that
the properties are not worth the values
stated or that all af them are worth
exactly the same thing, which is very
seldom the ease because they differ
widely, both IN land values and Inn
proyemeHts
| / will state furthermore that the
assessor Of your parish did not assess
Improvements separately from the land
| bat Included them in the land values.
land he only stated hls improvements
In a separate column as an estimate
but uo tax WIS computed thereon !
think you will find the assessor will
Verify this statement
The valuation Of all The property IN
! Easi FpheiaRa Is more than one mil.
|linn dollars In excess OF the valuation
lot all the property Ia West Felciana
parish and has an assessment of over
live hundred thousand dollars in az
cess of thu parish Of West FpliciaHa
when our Board had up the question
LOT Increasing the values Of property In
EAST FehcIana. the police jurors Of
that parish appeared as committee
adm stated thai the lands In East Pc.
IIicEana we're not near as good as those
In West Falic.aua. and with possibly
some exceptions I think the general
statement is approximately correct
As above stated. assure you ! will
he very glad indeed to appear ut the
Injecting Of the taxpayers on Saturday
20 q 4.