Putnam patriot., 1926-05-14
Recommends Equalization And Asks For Appropriation
 6contnued from
CContiuued from Paee 0aea

ioa that the work should he done Toe ally while others thought # should b'
 done bg some independent agency
 As the investigation progressed auo
 the problems became more and nor,
 familiar t0 the committee member. the committee became aait iH tbr
 opinion that the work was Tor ez perts and not for local citizens
 Chamber of Commerce Acts ] The directors of the Putnam Cham. hef of Commerce studied the problem after disc0uragement followed h-- #CouragemeHt iu losing prospects about I To locate industries here due entirely to the high tax rate. The board finally took it upon itself to ask the #aasessora. board of relief. selcctmen, and others 10 join in forming a com mittee for the purpose of f0rmula.- IHg a plan for reassessment beIieT .Iug that Y The work is properly done tHe grand list wiil be greatly increas- cd and fhe tax rate substantially rec daeed The first meeting was hell early ia January and the last meet ing last Monday afternoon
 From fhe start. according to the report submitted. it was the unaui maus opinion of the committee that the town l. badly in need of revaiua tion and equalization of property values for the purpose of taxation This Iefl as fhe only question t0 be considered the best method to use.
 Tn looking about where other towns and cities had been through the work st HNrEfs hftA Aa had been employed By having the work done by local assessors or citi- zens; by having the work done locally with consulting experts from the out side and by having the work done by experts alone Each of these methods waz explained to the committee by men from the towns where the methods had been used
 The Different Plans
 The town that did its own work did not obtain the results Putnam desires, in fact paid no attention to personal urapertv and had no uniform system for assessing realty. It made little impression on the committee az relat cd by a representative who came to Putnam.
 The consulting plan worked very well. and the town where it was used increased ts grand list from 35,000,= 000 to s52 Oa00e0 hut tho man gsha detailed how the work was done ad- mitted to thc committee that il it was ta be done ever again he would bF an means give q contract fH tho Mil= uiciual Service Company fthe rom salfing Arm ef expeft#l ar fa #amH other company nf similar nature rather fhan tn do fhr Wark oH eHu= sultati1n basis The speaker stated thaf while holding Ha brief for fhrfaH= eeru. he wa convinced that the niripm Service Company had aF F1zH if mol hetter system than ane at Hs.# concern and that other towns Ra .a the teeH he represented had found t sa He gave # as his opinion fhat F would b. impossible for a local cung mtfoe tu make q fatf fexaluutlpH and equalization for the reason that with out system much property would be l left out and skipped. and without eE pert advice the local committee would | be unable tn handle difficult problems. which experts would be familiar with. having met identical problems ia oth CT towns
 The plan that impressed the com mittee was outlined by Thomas Lin- der. president of the Municipal Ser
 ice Carnoration who told of his twen- v years experience in the work and of the experience of three other men who work with him The company has recently revalued property in Manchester. Middletuwn, New Britain. Berlin. East and West Haven. and other places That complete set af maps moving every piece of property in the town is requisite to the sys tenn that cards are used a separate card for each piece of property. These cards show the name of the owner, street number, character of street, whether there are sewers. street lights. trolley cars. city water. etc. in the street: the nature 1f the lot whether level or graded. width. depth. eharae fer of the house whether one, two. three teuameuts of more. af what ma tcrial built eNaet cubic contents of building. whether containing modern lmHfata Wauts. recording every dctag us ta whether there are hardwood floors electric lights. steam uf hut Wa ter heat. efc Then there is basic ksy Vatle pe front faef placed by ! committee at IeeaI citizens placed on thc most valuable let au the street 4 l0i l5u feet deep Is con idered normal Ono of less dapth i- 6eared pro rata as k one af greater depth, that is. q 5 foot lot IS f5es of the lh0 foot lot, while a 300 foot lot k li2is of the l50 foot lot. as experience has shown that fhsazs. fagr-aautaf,S arp correct Each building is valued m accordance with the number of cubic feet, the character and location of the building. it's rental value and use, all according to a scale which has been worked out by this company and found to be cor rect. Before applying the method to Putnam II would take about two weeks of intensive study to determine the basic property values and to discover the peculiar conditions applying to .g-g l.