New Britain herald., 1930-02-08

| nun jU tllC DOIii U UL HlldICt
 and taxation asking that an appro-
 priation of $5,50o be made for publi- { cation, in pamphlet form, of all 1 property assessments. showing the manner in which valuations were
 determined.
 Such publication, Alice argues.
 would bring many inequalities in local assessments to light and would result in speedy adjustment, Al Ices letter to the board reads:
 "The Board of Finance and Taxation, City Hall.
 l "Gcntlemen:--
 1 '1t has been a subject or comment
 among local real estate men that for ! several years serious inequalities 1 have existed in the tax assessment
 roll. In view of the present short l age Of tax revenues in respect Of 1 the necessary expenses of the city
 you are requested to take cosnizancc i or the matter at this time. You arc requested to authorize 1 the expenditure of s5.5o0 in the pub l lication in pamphlet form Of the real 1 estate assessments of the city, un- 1 der the supervision of the mayor and i tho board of assessors. l. is rccom 1 mcndcd that such publication be substantially in the form and man. ncr adopted by the city Of Middle | town, where the pamphlet issued by i the tax commissioner carries all the l data needed 10 enable one to form l an intelligent opinion as to the cor 1 rcctncss the justice. of tho assess i mont of any piece of property in the ! city
 "A local newspaper has suggest | cd that out-of-toWn experts be en-
 gagged to revise the assessment ro,I. i This would entail an expense of acr- 1 cral. perhaps many thousand dollars. In the opinion of the writer it S un- i necessary. You now have one of the best tax assessments systems iN i the state with all the data require ]. i given Wholc-hearted support by the mayor and your board. to enanle 1 the assessors to correct fully the iu- | cqualities referred to. a process which would, it is believed. increase | by many thousands of dollars the tax revenues of the city, and at the house owner. The writer takes the liberty ot suggesting, therefore, that, after the publication of the assessment roI,
 which would render possible the e. fcCtiFc cooperation Of the bank",s and real estate mon Of the city. NoY authorize two accountants of rccO"- ni2od standing and disintcrcst"-I- ness. such as Mr. Day and Mr. Clark or the accountants employed last 1 fall in the city andit. 10 lay down i the lines to be followed by tho .~- | a,sors in making the proposed rcNj- sion. This could be done at cost | 0" say $500 or $fo0o.
 ".. few months later in the light of tho information which would 1 flow into the assessors office, in the i shape Of protests and recommends ! lions Of changes. the accountants
 could in q couple Of days check UP | on the situation and determine tho
 policy 10 be followed in tho final revision.
 Tn view of the certainty that
 strong antagontsm would be 2n-
 countcrcd in making the proposed changes in the assessments some outside control of this kind is obvi- ously necessary, and publicity for the whole assessment roll is the first requisite.
 Your attention is called to the
 completeness of the data given j.: the MiddletoNn pamphlet concern ing each piece of property 'Yours truly, "J. E. ALLEE' Tn further explanation of his plan, Alice has written the following to the Herald:
 The board Of finance and taxa ton has been asked 10 authorize the publication of the tax assess menu roll of the city in pamphlet form in the manner that it is done in Middletown. The cost would be between 5000 and S5.500. Recent ly the writer sttaed the cost in Mid
 dlctown last year as $2,000. This statement made from memory was
 not quite correct. the actual figures were s1.500 for printing and S2O0 | for compilation. There were about
 5.G00 parcels listed in Middletown against about 1000 cards in the as scssors' files in New Britain.
 "A couple of items from the Mid dlctoWn pamphlet, if you would find space for them, would give your
 readers clearer idea Of what is
 aimed at by such publication. how
 effective it is necessarily in bringing about the correction of inequalities.
 the elimination of any unfairncss in
 the assessments.
 For example:
 Main Street. West Side
 "dGO-A7O Jacob W. StucCk
 Land G$.40N131 ......s45,925
 store SS1. 900 GU. fl. .. 6S,75o
 "Ral<rrv S1 S40 ru fl 10 6o5