Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-02-17
sussex COUNTY
ADVANCED UNDER.
NEW GOVERNMENT

ADVANCED UNOeR.
NEW GOVERNMENT
Continued from pAgc
IA compensation for work done. thc
levy Court paid tho Nsscsscrs from.
ten cents to IA cents per name for
zach taxable reported BY them to the
l~vy Court. you can. therefore. plain-
b. picture the material cbsAinabls to
~ this kind cs work. which u . tair
Indication of the quality cf <hs work
performed under thls system. II IL
an absolute fact. and | am ashamed To
admit Il. that our county had one
ass~ssor who could not oven write hts
nnmc. and this occurred only about
ten years ago.
While II In true that the Levy Court
usually gave the nacasors an out
line as to how they wanted the prop
srty valued, yet there Was a great In
equality ns 60 the VALUATIONS made
by the asscssorr. In tho several dis
tricta
I hay. In mind two farm properties
separated by n public road. which was
eiso the limo between two assessment
districts. There was practically no dif-
ference In tho actual valuc OF these
two properties, Yet. one property WAS
assessed for about one THIRD ms much
~ the other property, which Is the
came as charging n tax Of nearly three
tiu,s as much on one a. on the other.
palho samc rate per sioo was levied
tvcr tho entire county.
xtsa Of
Hssssrors was quito often secured on
account cf tho influence Of those who
had considerable property to he assess
~si, which was nm influence the ASSESS
cfs many times could not Withstand
nnd frequently. the assessors were
cvinr money GO one o. moro or the
lsrvor property owners. thereby. bcins
subject 10 diotation as 70 assessment
values.
New Assessment Plan.
The law of 1915 provided for Board
cf Assessment ~ three members. not
more than two OF whom should b,
from the sau. political party. TIL,
nr-, board was appointed by the thor
Governor Charles II. Aiillcr and com
menccd their work oil May 4. 1915
rhis board ~~vcd until January l
,aii, a, which time our ,hrcc-mcmbci
lew Court came In Office. This Lev,
court appointed the new Board %
Assessment.
Tho board appointed By Governor
Miller madc n general assessment dur
inu the year i9ns, which Increased th'
rsscrsmont ~ sussex county fron
sib,est.ea7. as rcturned on May ]
1919. by the IL assessor syrem, q
>1T.Ap..si on May /, 1915. by the nov
ryrlcm, and n was generally comedies
that thls board was conservative II
~ values. This was an ipcroase o
80 per cent In enc year.
Tho constitution of the State o
Delaware provides that property shal
Ia assessed NJ It's true value In money
You can plainly eco that tho assessor
under tho old system Of II did not a
their sworn duty n tho Assessment o
thc new board was not more than tn
true value 80 the property assessed
a. far as tho cost 81 operating undc
tho old method, as compared with ou
present BOARD ~ Assessment, l shoul
iudse the present method costs direct
ly. something mo- than the old meth
ed. although very l'ttic more; but
considering tho quality of tho wor
performed. tho present method In de
ridcdly cheaper. even II the old metho
had been run without cost Of opera
tion.
Assessing property, 20 q vcry Ercx
extent, II Case 81 Judgment. and
T. impossible 20 get even near a
equitable assessment when the count
= divided into "a separate and inde
pendcnt units. regardless of the calibe
81 the men makins the assessment
Therefore. " our present assessmer
J. more equitable than the old methods
~ removes. AZ least In part. a ius
cause of complaint by our honest tax
PAYERS
The second law referred 20 IN
method of collecting county taxes. Ur
der the old system, we had ten tn
collectors. .ors for each represents
tive district. These collectors war
appointed by the Levy Court. Fac
of the ten members of the Levy Coul
was supposed 20 appoint tho IN
collector In his district. which made
strictly a political appointment Tt
collectors we're supposed 20 retai
eight per cent Of the money they co
lcctcd for their services: but. thos
taxpayers who paid prior 20 Septemb,
J were allowed rebate OF three ~
cent: IN which case. the tax collect,
retained nve per cent onlyi whic
however. made II cost eight per Gel
In all TO collect the tnxcr. The CO
az this system was bad enough. bi
hardly the worst feature OF the syi
tom. a. tho great number OF delii
uuer,s turned In by these collectoi
often amounted 20 nearly as much
tho collectors were paid.
Under the law OF 1915. the offices
tar collector and county treasure
were combined. under the title OF IT
cclvcr OF taxes and county treasurer
Governor Miller appointed the tir
"recclver Of taxes and county treasu
.r." who assumed the duties Of his o
fic~ on May /. 1915.
THIS system has been very sari
factory indeed. and a great mon'
snvcr, as the total coz, OF collectir
taxes under this system does n
amount 20 near as much as the Q
method. ar " only amounted 20 abo
10 per cent Tor last year as cor
pared 90 eight per cent under the o
system. or less than one-fourth
much.
Under tho old method. tax collec
ors often owed the county two or thr
years back tazes ] have case
mind where "A collector Slas more eh'
Two years In arrears with the count
and. when the county endeavored
collect from the four men who we
h.t hondsmen, three OF the four clair
I'd they didn't sign his bond and w
out Whnn irIed IA rnurf