Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-07
BILL IS APPROVED
FOR REASSESSMENT
Fairfax Supervisors Favor
Measure Prepared by
Chamber of Commerce.

Fairfax County board of supervisors
yesterday Endorsed the outline Of the
provisions of the bill changing the pres
ent method of making the quinquennial
real estate assessment in Virginia, which
the Fai1te-y County Chamber Of Com
nerce az. endeavor to have passed at
the coming session of the State Legis-
lature F. S. McCandlish, r. r. Buck
ley and j. U. Kincheloe, commissioner
Of revenue, left last night for Rich
n1ond, where they will hold confer
enoe today with State Tax Commits
sioner Morrisett.
The bill as outlined will be brief and
will leave to the supervisors of each
county power to set up their own ma
chinery decide the number of assessors,
salary and other details. It was felt
that the fewer details to be included In
this organic law the greater its chance
of immediate approval. 1t merely pro-
vtdes that the assessment shall be made
by such persons or officers as may be
designated by the judge OF the Circuit
Court, their compensation to be fixed
by the supervisors and paid from the
general county levy" II specifies that
the act shall apply to the 1880 assess
nlent, that these assessors shall afford
reasonable opportunity" to all parties
to protest any assessment and that tax
payers shall be entitled to appeal to the
court for redress.
Will Not Raise Taxes.
Commonwealth's Attorney Wilson NJ.
Farr, in urging Endorsement of this bill,
stated that in his opinion there was
nothing more important to Fairfax
County than a fair distribution of the
burden of taxation and that justly the
greatest present basis Of dissatisfaction
was the inequality of taxation.
IF a man is fairly assessed now this
will mean no increase in taxation. 1t
will mean a difference if he is unfairly
assessed, whether too high or too low"
he stated
He assured all taxpayers that the su-
pervisors would not take advantage of
such reassessment to raise taxes. The
supervisors followed their Endorsement
of the bill by inserting in the tentative
budget an appropriation of S14,500 with
which to meet the expenses of such re-
assessment.
A proposal from County Treasurer F.
w. Huddleson that clause be inserted
in this proposed law. reducing the pres
ent maximun1s which the supervisors
dLc dI4OWSu 10 leNy- DdSlLlE the TeQuCLlOn
on Sliding scale of total valuations,
similar to the manner in which the
State now regulates salaries of county
officers, was disapproved Both Farr
and McCandlish felt that it would be
impossible to work out such a sliding
scale until after the first assessment
has been made on the new basis. In
their opinion no intelligent hxation of
maxlmums would be possible before
1882. The supervisors concurred in their
opinion that in matters solely affecting
Fairfax County, the board was better
able to judge local needs than the Leg
islature at Richmond. Mr.. Farr pointed
out that the supervisors had never vet
levied the maximum authorized by law
ana there was no reason to suppose
that they would depart from past Gus
tom next year.
II also was feared that inclusion of
maxlnums would Kill the bills chances
Tor early passage.
Tentative Budget Adopted.
The supervisors adopted a tentative
budget. A public hearing Will be held
az a later date and the requisite levies
VII oe lald at the April meeting. In
cluoeo IN this budget are several ap-
preparations for new projects. but, mas
much as ether appropriations have
been either omitted or increased and
taking into account the normal increase
IN valuations, it Is not expected thai
the tax rate VIII show an increase.
The SUPERVISORS inserted in the
budget an appropriation of $1,000 for
the public welfare work now being car
RED on by Mrs. Leon Manghun. su-
perintendent. This includes 81 500 for
salary and $500 for expenses. The re-
quest vas presented by r. r. Buckley.
Chairman Of the county board of public
welfare, and by Juvenile Court Judge
A. G. Richie. -Four thousand five hun
dred dollars was inserted for fire pre-
lection, to be spent for hose and equip
mert. under the direction of the county
engineer. and apportioned among the
nve volunteer companies. j. H. Beattie,
spokesman of the committee from the
Fairfax Volunteer F1remens Associa-
ton, presented figures showing that
scent levy would raise S4,440.
The supervisors accepted the request
Of the school board for a e0-cent levy
for school expenses, with scent sink
ing fund for the construction at some
future date of a central vocational high
school. An appropriation Of $4,000 for
a county emergency fund was included
upon recommendation of Common
wealth's Attorney Farr, who pointed
out the danger run by the supervisors
in attempting to run the county bust
ness with no margin for unforeseen
contingencies. In order to simplify the
bookkeeping in the Offices of the treas
urer and county engineer, and to effect
savings in operation, the road appro-
priat!ons for next year will be based
on fat county road tax Of 81, with
1-cent district tax. The average road
levy last year amounted TO 81 cents.
This will insure an appropriation Of
$4,000 for emergency road work to take
care Of contingencies such as have
arisen this year when two county
bridges had to be repaired out Of funds
which would otherwise have been eX-
pended for road construction.
Items in Budget.
The budget as now outlined calls for
a total appropriation Of 1881, 1887, dis
tributed as follows: County fund, ad-
rninistrative expenses Board OF super
visors, 81 900; county clerk, 5000; sher-
if, 200; sheriff's jail expenses, $1,000;
Commonwealth attorney, $1,000; treas
urer and his assistants, S11 ,022.51;
commissioner Of revenue, $500; spe-
cial officers appointed By sheriff, $1,000;
Office supplies, sheriff, treasurer, COM
missioner Of revenue, clerk, $4,000; jul
dietary expenses Judge Smith, $500;
Judge Ritch;e, S420 jury commission
buildings, janitors salary, 81 ,oe0; con-
struction, repairs, lights, telephone,
$1,000.
For election expenses, $1,000 was al
lowed; $4,000 for the poor, $500 for
public health, $500 compensation for
animals killed by dogs, $500 for boun-
ties on predatory animals and birds,
500 for predatory animals and other
expenses.
Under education. s1,o35 was allowed
for basic salary of the division super
intendent; $l25,724.97 for salaries OF
teachers, $76,54429 for administration
expenses, $3,980.94 for school indebt-