Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1919-03-05
WILL TRY TO GET
ASSESSMENT CUT
Committee Appointed By Fiscal Court
Goes To Observation-Disclosures
Have Busy Meeting.


increase ordered in assessment of
Madison county, made before the reg
ular monthly meeting of the Fiscal
Court Tuesday morning, led to the ap-
pointrnent of a committee of officials
and citizens to go to Frankfort We'd
|nesday and appear before the State
Tax Commission and endeavor to Sc
cure reduction in the increase. The
committee, as appointed by County
Judge Price, with the concurrence of
the court is composed of Judge Price,
County Road Engineer ]. G. Baxter,
County Tax Commissioner Ben R.
Powell, County Attorney o. P. Jack
son, A R. Burnam, Jr., and s. NJ.
Saufey. Discussion Of the tax ques-
ton before the court brought out that
the taxing authorities have evidently
sought to assess Madison as If its en-
tire acreage were blue grass land.
Definite facts were shown at the
courts meeting to the effect that full
ly half of Madison is hill or thin land
that L not in class with the blue
grass soil, and yet the State Tax Com
mission is palpably seeking to have
Madison assessed as If entirely COM
posed of blue grass land like Wood
ford, Bourbon and other counties of
similar location. 1t was estimated by
a number of the land owners and 9th
ers familiar with conditions in Madi
SON, that If placed upon full valua-
ton, the land of Madison would not
average $50 an acre actual valuation.
DIR. d. ]. Williams, one Of the coun-
ty's largest land owners and MEM
Der of the Fiscal Court said that he
has 1000 acres of land that he would
be glad to sell at SIS an acre.
The meeting of the Fiscal Court
was largely attended, as the taxpay-
ers are greatly interested in this mat
ter. Figures of the State Tax Com
mission itself show that there is prob
ably no county in the state that has
been subjected to the heavy increase
in assessment by the state taxing
body within the past two years, that
Madison has been forced TO take. With
about four and third million dollars
ordered added on this year, it will
mean close to ten million dollars in
crease in assessment forced on this
county by the state board within two
years.
The vigorous steps that the taxpay-
ers Of Montgomery county are pro-
posing to take to combat increase on
their county were called to attention
Of the meeting by Judge Baxter, and
If the committee finds it feasible, it
may take steps to cooperate with the
committee from Montgomery :.
A number Of prominent taxpayers
were at the courts meeting and had
a few words to say about the raise.
Among them were Col. N. B. Deather-
age, R. o. Moberly, C. C. Wallace and
Thompson Burnam and Col. w. B.
Smith.
The special 20 cent road tax election
to be held on March 29th was also
discussed at length. County Engineer
Baxter suggested that in the event {
reduction could not be obtained in the
increased assessment to be placed g
Madison, it might be wise to call of
this special tax election for the pre-
sent. He said that he did not like to
see good roads proposition receive a
black eye and he feared it might if the
heavy increase IN assessment stood. A
number Of taxpayers from various
sections of the county also had some
thing to say on this matter, but most
of them seemed to favor the road tax
proposition with the funds properly
distributed over the county.
County Tax Commissioner Ben r.
Powell said that he believed the in
crease in Madison's assessment was
due to an effort to get all counties on
a valuation of IS per cent. BE said
the State Tax Commissions figures
showed Madison to have been on only
q 81 per cent valuation. However, the
argument of many that the State Tax
Board is seeking to Judge Madison as
lie its entire acreage is high priced
blue grass land, instead Of about halt
Of its sqnobs" or river gully, or thin