The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-29

maneuver would merely wipe out whatever progress in adjustment has been made. This slaspected necessity for the revaluatlon has been confirmed by Che figures that have appeared in the newspapers,
 Everyone knows of the case H the house valued for years ct ee5c. Many such inequalities have ap- peared and have been corrected. From these same figures we can also conclude that certain conner clal properties had been under-as- sessed. Tn addition, there had been lack of uniformity between houses Of the sme class with the result that one neighbor he'd been paying part of another neighbors s tax bill. Adjustment had been inc tlicated also In over-assesSed prop critics to keep people living in them and to prevent them from going off the tax rolls entirely through purchase by charitable institutions.
 Assuming, then, the necessity tor the revaluation, I believe that 1t has been carried through accord- ing to the standards set by the company in a completely inpar- tial manner. A certain standard of market value was arrived at and was applied generally, without fav- of and with no other object than an even application. Certainly, there has been no favoritism and no action except in good faith. An honest attempt has been made to reach fair result.
 In spite of this. however, there are certain factors which must be considered and want you to know that I have brought them to the attention of the assessor. Because of the housing shortage and infla- tlonary conditions. there has been an abnormal pressure on domeS- tlc properties. It is clear too that the pressure increases as one goes down the scale of value. TEe lower tAe value of the house the more demand there is for 1t. There have been frequent sales of these properties and more exact evi- dence of current prices. On the other hand, 1t is difficult to apply suoh standards to other groups, such as the industrial, where safes are infrequent.
 I have asked the assessor to look into this matter and I nave recommended that he carefully re- view all properties, regardless of appeals, to see to 1t that the new assessments will embody @ market value which is not unduly inflated. I have asked him to eliminate all individual cases and I have asked that he equalize any undue inequal- ity which may exist between one class of property and another. In brief, I have suggested that he re- view the measure of value which has been used.
 Actual Grand List
 One surprising development has been the amount by which the ao- tual grand list will exceed the eS- timated list. The estimated list. submitted to me, was 2l5 million dollars and the actual net list will probably reach 225 million dollars. Figures are still incomplete, but it is clear that the increase will be beyond anything that was con- tenplated. The question Of how Go use this excess is now under consideration. In all the sugges- tons made, the excess would be returned to the people in one way or another and I want to em- phasize right here that the city administration has no objection to returning his excesS o h ax-aoingi returning this excess to the tax payer. It is only . question of method.
 This return could be made on the basis of the revised grand list in the form of Q tax reduction next year. A suit has also been started to see whether or not the tax rate could be changed to permit the re- turn of this excess on the basis of the revised list before next year by reducing the amount to be collected. do not believe that this can legal ly be done in view of the require- ments of the City Charter, but these two suggestions would have 6 slmi- lar effect, the only difference being the timing of their operation. The third suggestion is to give Q blanket percentage cut across the board. Drawbacks
 All three of these suggestions have the same drawbacks. That is that they would preserve undue changes in value and would give only slight relief to a group which had been unduly burdened. Prob ably the fairest method would be to give reductions based on a percent age to classes which required it, the percentage to be based on the ex- tent to which current conditions have inflated selling prices. This in- fiation has been felt particularly in domestic properties containing the lower number of dwelling units.
 I have recommended to the as- sessor that he investigate the pos- sibility of making such an adjust ment.
 There is another matter that should be discussed. Of course, syInpathize with the leaders of the community clubs and the people I HA&Oh&s hAA|y 9AE ANRANeStASeAAbs AAtNN taxes have been affected and they have objected. That was a natural reaction. was very happy to meet with heads of these clubs and to discuss the matter with them and I assured them of my deep interest and complete cooper ation.
 Hits COP
 They certainly have a right to voice their objections and to work for adjustments they think neces- saFy. We should not discount the fact. however. that in some cases the form of c community club has been used to make political capital out of this situation. Some 0ppOr- tunlsts have not been disinteFested and have been active to emphasize and increase natural irritation. MI Eueh a movement has heen the