Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-19
Assessor Holds Additional
Force Will Be Needed to Re-
wise Property Figures.
WHOLE STAFF is BUSY
ON MAPES' REQUEST
Revised Paving Cost Law Makes
Complicated Task-Attorney
Expects Courts 0. K.

II Will take year at least, WIN an
increased staff of clerks, to make the
reassessment of property required under
the revised Borland law passed by Con-
greSs and before the President for sig
nature. Tax Assessor William P. Rich
ards made this estimate today after
talking with some of the workers in
the Office now handling the clerical end
of Borland law assessments and other
assessments against property for curbs,
cutters. alleys and the like.
Section IL of the revised law pro-
vides that: 1.-THE Commissioners of the
District of Columbia are hereby direct
ed to cancel all assessments for i'm
provements completed within three
years prior to the date of approval of
this act (under the Borland law and
the Commissioners are further directed
to reaSsess the cost of such improve
mentS against the abutting property in
accordance with the provisions of this
act, which assessments shall become a
lien against the AUDITING property and
be collected in the manner provided
herein"
Task More Complicated.
This task involves getting out all the
LOB sheets" on street Improvement
projects executed under the Borland
law for the past three years, entering
the assessments as Cancelled and then
proceeding to new assessment on
| each individual lot. In the former as
SesSmentS the amount was calculated
directly from the frontage of the lot
being assessed. Under the new law, the
proceeding Is much more complicated
The assessment is primarily calculated
on the front foot basis, but there are
many governing factors introduced to
meet the objections made by court de-
cisions. The assessment, for instance,
must not exceed $3.50 per front foot, OF
the number of square feet in the prop
erty multiplied by l per cent of the
front-foot assessment; it shall not ex-
coed 20 per cent of the assessed value
of the land; no land lying more than
100 feet back of the improved road
| way shall be computed in the area
(section A.. When any property abuts
two or more streets, all assessments
against the property under this law
shall not aggregate more than 3l2
per cent of the assessed value of the
land
There are nine clerks in the section
Of the assessors Office now handling
the Borland law and other similar work
Mr.. Richards said they were now busy
with current work and he did not see
! how this additional labor could be per-
formed without extra help.
Mapes Request Big Job.
Besides" said Mr. Richards, "all my
Office is busy. We just have a request
from the Mapes committee to give them
the value of all land bought by the
Federal Government in the District OF
Columbia for the past 10 years. We
are supposed to be assessors of revenue
producing property and a job such as
this takes a tremendous lot of labor
Most of my force is busy on this one
request now"
Vernon L. West, principal assistant
corporation counsel, who handles the
Districts Borland law cases in court
said that he thought the legislation
would stand court test. Mr.. West
then in private practice, was the first
lawyer to break into the old Borland
law by securing a decision of the Court
Of Appeals against its validity in GER
tain circumstances.
G. Bowdoin Craighill, the attorney
who won the case of the Mclean estate
against the District, in which the Court
of Appeals ordered a Borland law as
sessment Cancelled and the Supreme
Court of the United States refused to
grant a writ of certiorari against the
decision, said today that he had not had
| time to study the text of the substitute
| measure. He Is engaged in a will con-
test in court, which is expected to take
all of his time for the next week. Later
he expects to study the new legislation
with a view to further protest against
! assessments on his clients properties If
he feels they would be justified. He de-
clined to advance an opinion on the new
measure, however, before an opportunity
for careful study of its terms.