Evening star., 1944-10-05
Fowler Advises D. {.
10 Hold Title on
Park Properties
Report Of Budget Officer
Hits Claim of Planners
Of Lund Value Increases
By CAMBRIDGE CRIST.


Of Lund VuIue Increases
BY BAINBRDGE CRIST.
Budget Officer Walter L. Fowle,
today advised The District Commits.
sioners that 80 per cent increas,
in assessed valuation Of land in tn,
past 20 years was due principally tx
reassessment of downtown land ans
subdivisions in outlying areas ant
urged that the District hold it'll
to all land purchased with its funds
His statement took direct issu,
with q claim of the National Cap.
ital Park and Planning Commis.
sion that parks and playground,
are one Of the major contribution.
to the increase in the value of tax.
able property in the District.
In q report showing that the Dis
trict has paid millions of dollars
toward park land to which the
United States holds title, Mr.. Fow-
Ter stated:
"It is the opinion of this office
that all land acquired out of Dis
trict funds should be titled in the
District of Columbia and that all
acquisitions of land for the District
of Columbia within this city should
be through the Office of the corpora
ton counsel and the District Real
Estate Purchasing Committee.
Point to Act of 1880.
It was pointed out that under
an act OF 1880 the NCPPC and the
Maryland National Capital Park and
Planning Commission reached an
agreement for the extension of Rock
Greek and Anacostia Park systems
under which the United States will
pay one-third OF the cost, Maryland
tws-thirds, with the title being
held by Maryland.
To bolster its argument "that the
more done to make this city salts
factory place to work in is an
investment that pays dividends, "
the NCPPC had argued that from
1924 to 1914 the assessed value of
land had increased 80 per cent, i'm
provements had gone up 103 per
cent or a total increase in assess
ments of "a per cent.
To this Mr.. Fowler replied:
The increase of 80 per cent in
the assessed value of land Is due
principally to the reassessment of
land in the downtown district and
the development of subdivisions in
the outlying districts. Much of the
land purchased by the National Cap
ita1 Park and Planning Commis-
sion is undeveloped and of little
value for recreational purposes"
Fort Drive Project.
Mr.. Fowler said that if the con-
tention Of the NCPPC that the cost
OF the park drive project is con-
siderably less than would been the
cost OF city streets refers to the
proposed Fort drive, I'VE cannot
agree"
'Under our street acquisition pro-
gram, a considerable amount of the
cost is assessed against adjacent
properties. This is as it should be
for when any property is benefited
by . public acquisition over and
above general benefit that prop
erty should be charged.
''There is no reason for enriching
few at the expense of the taxpayer.
The Fort drive project should be
studied by the Commissioners to
determine if it has been worth the
cost and if there is any good reason
for continuing with the plans. AS
it stands today, hundreds Of acres
acquired for this drive are serving
no useful purpose. 1t has been
estimated by our Highway Depart
ment that it would cost approx
nately $40, ,000, 900 to complete this
project.
"The public should have more
knowledge of what is contemplated,
should have an opportunity to de-
termine its feasibility, and to decide
if such q burden should be as
sumed."
Overall Picture.
The overall picture presented by
Mr.. Fowler showed that 40.8 per
cent of $1,000 acres in the District
are owned by the Federal Govern
ment, 3.3 per cent is owned by the
District, At per cent is exempt, leav-
ing only 51.2 per cent of land for
taxation.
THE assessed value of all land
owned by the United States within
the District of Columbia is $780,
803, ,472," Mr.. Fowler's report said.
"At . rate of SITS per 500 of
assessed value, taxes on property
(unimproveO held by the United
States would amount to $6,296,561
which is in excess of the $4,000, 900
lump sum paid to the District of
Columbia by the Federal Govern
ment."
In the preface of his report to
the Commissioners, Mr.. Fowler said,
when we consider that 2469 per
cent OF the total land of the District
excluding streets is park land and
that only 5i.2 per cent of all our
land area excluding streets is tax
able, we cannot help but wonder
what problems the next decade will
bring"
Reduction In Taxable Land.
"The reduction in taxable land
from 1899 acres in 1885 to 1898
acres in 1914, a decrease of lib per
cent, is due principally to the &C
QUESTION Of property by the United
States and the District" the report
stated. "As q result of these ac-
QUESTIONS, the assessed value of tax
able land was reduced from $487,-
742,551 in 1885 to $481 1865 ,o91 in
1912, or q decrease of IL per cent,
while the average value of land per
acre increased from $27,113 to
$29,512 during the same period, or
an increase of SO per cent.
There were considerable increases
IN the value of land In the years 194s
and 1914, but the assessed value o1
taxable land in 1914 was $58, ,694 1886
less than in 1892, q decrease of 10.t
Fer cent. 4" The increase in land
values during 1913 was due prin.
cipally to the development of prop.
erty in the Southeast section of the
city"
Mr.. Fowler said that the assessed
value Of land at, the time Y,,,rrl,o coz