Norwich bulletin., 1921-09-21

Dr. Lawson Purdy of New York, intro duced as an assessment and taxation expert held the close attention of an audience of about 125 in the town hall Tuesday evening at a public meeting held under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce and was given a unanimous rising vote of thanks at it's close.
 President Charles F. Wells opened the meeting and presented Arthur F. Libby as chairman of the Chamber of Com merce equitable taxation committee Att torney Libby introduced Dr. Purdy with a few words as to his extended experi- ence in real estate assessment work in New York from 1896 to 1918,
 Dr. Purdy, who is a graduate of Trin- itv college, at Hartford spoke first of the way the work of assessment is done in New York city, where they have 95 assessors, who assess from 5000 to 1O,- 900 parcels of property, according to the territory they are in, and are paid $3,- 600 a year, their clerks getting from S12O0 to $500. The standard for ap- pointment has been raised by civil ser vice examinations and there is pension system after years of service. Thus their tenure of office Is made secure during faithful service, which is no more than ought to be done for a service that requires such absolute honesty, intelli- gence and industry. Usually assessors are underpaid, said pr. Purdy and the results of their work are better than their neighbors have a right to expect. You'll find assessors all over the coun- try serving pretty well for what the neople give them. Norwich ought to be ashamed, he said, for not giving the as- se-sors the essential tools to work with, and one of these essentions is a tax map. ts to the cost of getting up a tax map, Dr. Purdv mentioned instances of several communities which found that they more -han paid for their tax map in the taxes or land which # brought to view that , had never been in the lists. Until a i tax map is had, you can't expect your assessors 10 do the kind of work they l went to do. MT. Purdy said.
 The +ax man could best be made with out outside heIn. Do it yourselves and vouU find better how to do it every year. Such a map Is usually made on ] the scale of 30 feet to an inch showing l the lenrth of every boundary line and the | area of irregular parcels Farm terri 1 tory fs shown on a smaller scale. Ii is
 desirable to have the map in dupli- {, cate. one for the office and the other for field use, to be actually carried into the field.
 The Norwich assessors have one goot l tool, the insurance atlas, but that l.
 not all they need. You should have
 land value map. IL is fundamental fo
 good work by the assessors to have land value map which shows the rela
 tive value of property on different streets
 This would show the value of the unit lot
 preferably 100 feet deep. lying on tn
 street ~rade, and would show the uni i on every street and on every farm an
 part of q farm. Different units 0
 value would be placed on property O ! different streets according to the char
 ac=er of the streets.
 It is important, said Mir. Purdy, to ge 2 the neople to see that the assessmer
 of their property is a proper assess
 ment and the land value map is an ai to this end Dr. Purdy showed ho
 with the tax map and the land valU 5 map it was possible to show any ta, - payer just how his assessment was fiji
 ured out as to value of land and builC n inFs on real scientific method of asses
 ment how much is put on for the Ian D and how much added by the building TT g taxpayer could also be shown in a sa
 isfactory way how his assessment con