New Britain herald., 1920-03-25
CURTIS PRESS AGENT 1 WORKING OVERTIME
SendS Out Propaganda in Behalf of His Candidacy

oinination at the republican prima- les, was shown to be responsible for kany of the improvements which re today going into effect, instead De claims may be easily substan- hted by the city records, is the |cinl of the managers.
 The statement follows:
 Tn spite of an unusually high tax |te, the city has been confronted fth the necessity of raising more |oney each year in order to meet brent expenses. The mayor req Jed that, in order to remedy this bsatisfactory state of affairs, it puld be necessary to increase the ty's grand list. However, MT. |ligley seemed to be somewhat at Ia as to how this could be done, as 1inced by the fact that at different fnes he had advocated changes in |e city charter both increasing and kcreasing the membership of the lard of assessors. At other times E. Quigley has recomme ended ab- 1 Ird ways of increasing the grand It, such as by including in the list |rsonal bank balances, or personal |operty such as jewelry and house. l Id furniture. Moreover, at one ne he appointed 8 committee to |yise ways and means of increas- B the grand list but nothing of hue was accomplished!
 However, about year ago the ard of finance and taxation realiz- B the general feeling of dissatis- 'ttion over the high tax rate, made Special report to the common coun- recommending that the City of w Britain proceed to make re- 4uation of taxable property as re- fred by the laws of the state. Tt was then that, on his own tiative, MT. Curtis investigated the oblem and discovered that the hrter Gas amended by special acts h9, page 75S, and special acts 1915, Gss 4fS and 418) gave the common lncil authority to direct the board assessors to take the necessary ps for making a revaluation of bperty. The surprising thing is It others, including the mayor him f, were not conversant with that use of the charter
 Then MT. Curtis presented res (tion to the common council pro- ling that the property of the city reassessed to conform to the stat Is Of the state. This resolution was opted without opposition, and the yor appointed committee, the It man named being Mir. Curtis.
 After several meetings this com tee submitted a report o'the com n council recommending the pro- ure to be adopted in arriving at a and equitable revaluation of perty. It was further recom- nded that a map, which had al dy been three years in the making, completed as quickly as possible. common council adopted these onm en dations and voted to ap- priate the money necessary to duct the investigation. However le these important meetings were progress the mayor was absent m the city, and MT. Curtis was ng mayor as is shown in Vol. 16,
 2, of the Proceedings of the nmon Council.
 IA little later, the board of assess
 acting en the recommendations he special committee, presented a
 
 The common council approved
 report and instructed the board assessors to proceed in accord their recomm en1ations. Fur more, the common council em- cred the board of assessors to Joy experts to aid them and in or
 to expedite the work.
 All of these moves were directed
 
 roved by the common council presented by MT, Curtis. The or did not originate, nor ap- bntly even advocate, any of this Fedure. On the other hand, he ely approved, or at least did not k, the resolutions after they passed by the common coun-'
 ince that time, the work of re- ation has Jagged because the
 I'd of public works has been un-
 to employ sufficient men to plete the maps and to compile
 r essential data. In this con- ion, it is 9 well known fact that
 Curtis has personally obtained eers and draftsmen from other to come to New Britain and
 t in carrying on this vitally i'm ant work.
 How long it will be before a new
 equitable revaluation of prop
 is completed, it would be. diff
 to Say. However, until that
 the old grand list, which is
 pletely out of date and unfair,
 be retained and the public
 suffer from a seemingly un-
 bnabiy high tax rate. It is be-
 e he fully realizes the importance
 he city of completing the new
 q list and in that way bringing
 t a lower tax rate, that MT.
 has given his time and energy
 he work unceasin gly."