The sun., 1918-10-06

How the Department Of Taxes and
Assessments arrives at the valuations
which It places on real estate for the
purpose Of collecting the real estate own
er's portion OF the city revenue has long
been O question which. to the average
observer, is shrouded with mystery. 1t
is an acknowledged fact that every
department of the city or State which
might at one time or another eccumu-
late data having a bearing on realty's
worth has been made use Of. Other
available sources of information have
been carefully scrutinised. 1t remained,
however, for the present Department OF
Taxes to introduce q new method. 1t
therefore is an easier task than might
be imagined to explain how the city's
real estate has advanced S146,130,S $40
on this years assessment rolls.
Jacob A Cantor, President of the De-
partmsnt Of Taxes and Assessments,
discussing the situation yesterday, ex-
planned away q great deal OF the mys-
terry. Summarizing the increase In q
brief sentence. ne said II was because
Of inequality and INTERPRETATIONS which
were placed by the preceding boards.
The war, to which has been attributed
almost every favorable and unfavorable
change which has come upon this city.
was only partly responsible In this par
ticular case. Water front property was
affected. but even here the advances
were not so great as to be the principal
means Of obtaining the increases, though
they did help materially.
The first step which the new board de-
a.A 10 "a nlAo al nm fhr
business remaining over from the previ-
Gus administration. was to ascertain
what deputies other than those who hat
been regularly assigned to certain dis
tricts, were familiar with other territory
When this question had been fully
worked out, the deputy assessors were
transferred, so that the men who placed
valuations on one district last year were
assigned to use their knowledge In othe,
territory this year. The result, as ex
planned by Mr.. Cantor. was that value,
were recognized by the new mep which
might have been overlooked by the As
SCISSOR who formerly placed the figure
in the district. The reason for tn
change in opinion, II was explained. wa
not that the previous assessor was no
capable Of utilizing all the means a
his command and. applying the variou
UrL1Cipic6 " tHo CaSc, pus cSS~SsSSr an
all human beings, he was likely to &c
into a rut, and. having been used q
seeing a parcel from only one angle
did not recognise the Increased valua
tions which the newer man did. who o
necessity had to look from every angl
10 obtain a just and complete conpre
hension Of the realty.
New building which had been com
pleted since the last assessment rol
was issued. Mr.. Cantor explained. hat
a great deal to do with the increass
too But he hastened to point out thai
where assessors were changed and The
Two agreed upon a valuation, there wa
a certain satisfaction to owners tina
they were being treated absolutely fair
His contention IL we'll taken, as 1t fl
apparent from what he said that witt
two qualified men setting the same val
uation on a parcel OF realty, little doub
exists that the figure Is right.
The greatest increases in valuation
are shown in the central part OF Man
haitian, between Fourteenth street ant
Seventy-pinth street, and from river 4
river. In this area there has been mucl
building and remodelltng under wa!
during the last twelve montha Man,
Of the dwelling houses which were val
ued as one family habitations have un
dergone modernixatton and reconstruc
tion making them suitable for the &C
cupation OF several small families, an,
consequently more valuable from a rea