Imperial Valley press., 1922-08-26
EXPERT SAYS
COUNTY OFFICE
IS A MODEL
Southern Pacific Tax Agent
Pays a High Compliment
To Wiley NJ. Wedrer

The one man who is best qualified TO
pass ON the condition of the records Of
county assessor s office i'll this state
is probably Mr.. Taber, tax expert for
the Southern Pacific, whose duties, for
the past eight years, have taken him
through every assessor s office in Cab
fornia. On his recent rip to the valley,
Mr.. Taber remarked that the records
of The Imperial County Assessor s office
are in remarkable shape, having i'm
proved, since his early visits to thi9
county, from being the poorest in the
state, to o point where there are only
two other county assessor = offices that
can compare favorabiy with them.
When Mr.. Weaver first took office,
| the assessor s records were a tumble O.
pencifed memoranda. The confused de-
scription of land, resulting from two
surveys, and the fact that final certi-
ficates were just coming through from
the government, caused endless check
ing and corrections. Out of this maze
has been developed the system of rec
ords which Mr.. Taber praised so highly,
and upon which Mr.. Weaver is making
his campaign for reelection.
With the amazing growth of this
county and its increase in valuations,
has come q corresponding increase IN
the volume Of work to be handled By
the, assessor g office. However, this in
crease has largely been met by im
proved methods and systcmatizcd hand
ling Of records, until the assessor >
office of Imperial county is now being
| operated at lower cost, III proportion TO
value of property assessed, than any
other assessor s office in the entire
state. This costs the county very littla
more than it did 70 years ago, while
the volume Of work handled has mora
than trebled.
Mr.. Weaver has introduced practices
into the work of this office, MANY of
which are being adopted by other
county assessors throughout the state,
which have proved u great saving to
the county by assessing property that
had formerly escaped taxation. A
single one Of these brings in more money
each year than the entire cost of oper-
ating the assessors g office, from prop
erty which had never before borne its
share Of the county tax burden.
1t is fairly well understood that tha
assessor 9 office has nothing whatever
to do with the amount of tax that you
pay. 1t does not set the rate, nor
spend the money It's sole duty is to
see that all property in the county ia
equally assessed. The best proof that
Mr.. Weaver has been fair in his asseas-
ments is the fact that each year com
plants come to this office from every
section of the valley, that their partieu.
lar locality has been ovcr.assessed.
1t is impossible to avoid some mis-.
takes in handling such volume OF
work, during the brief assessing period,
but no claim has ever come to Mr.
! Weaver s attention that has not re-
ceived prompt adjustment, in all cases
where the claimant was entitled to il.
l. The law, rs interpreted by the district
attorney = office, has worked bardships,
| particularly in the matter of not grant
ing soldiers exemptions to firms owned
i by eXservice men. Mr.. Weaver has
been blamed for this and accused of
not being i'll sympathy with cx-servies
men. Nothing is farther from the truth.
for he is entirely in sympathy with
them, as matter of principle, as well
as for personal reasons, but in view of
the district attorney s opinion of the
law governing soldiers exemptions,
he can only grant them on property
assessed to the name slvbwn on the hon.
orable discharge.
Mr.. Weaver is basing his campaign
for reelection upon his past record. He
has been absolutely fair and impartial.
he has conducted his office with eff.
cheney and strictest economy, and, IL
favored with reelection, win continue
to do so.