The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-04-19

Council ot Community Clubs last night assailed Mayor John s. Mon- agan aad his administration in a speech broadcast over WATR. Mar tinO accused the Mayor and mem- bers of his administration of ''de- liberate failure to discharge their duties."
 The text of MT. Martinos speech is as follows:
 Mayor Monagan, by his spectacu- lar and secret descent upon the Legislative Council at Hartford has now clearly recognized the illegality of the grand list of 1945. While recognizing illegality, he attempts to pass 1t over as light matter. The departure from charter provisions by our civic officials is never light matter, and very generally leads to abuses detrimental to the common citizen. We have had one illustra- ton of this in the past, and we do not want another.
 "In his statement to the Legisla- tive Council the mayor has attack cd the motives of those citizens who are attempting to prevent charter violations. He would minimize the importance to our city of what they are doing. He states that the failure to file an abstract of the list as re. quired by the charter is merely a failure to observe formal require H1ents in certain unimportarlt par ticulars." He further mentions this as merely "a technical objection"
 When we enter upon the path of wilfully disregarding charter pro- visions whenever 1t may suit our convenience under the loose claim that such provisions are technical only, we enter upon a path which may easily lead to the destruction of the rights and property of our fellow citizens. This effort to dis- credit the real motives back of those suits is an attempt to definite ly mislead the taxpayers of the City | of Waterbury. The mayor knows well that any statement that these suits are technical in their nature only, is absolutely false.
 These suits have been rnotivated by desire to prevent the clear injusticeS which would result from passing our tax rate upon the grand list of 1045. The failure to file an abstract list as required by char ter was done wilfully and with full Knowledge that the charter was being violated. Why our officials should 50 disregard the charter we are unable to understand, nor do we intend to countenance such action on their part.
 No Ample Opportunity Offered
 It is well known that the grand list of lo45 was constructed with far too great haste to be fair and equitable. We know that no ample opportunity has been offered to the taxpayer to obtain relief. We do not propose to allow our citizens to forget the treatment which they received at the City Hall in Janu- ary of this year. Misinformation as to the time to appeal to the Board of Tax Review; standing in line to the point of exhaustion; impertinent questionnaires; rushed hearings; token appearances; are those what we as citizens of Q democracy must submit to?
 The grand list is full of errors. The valuations are based on ir- Hated values, Q matter which the Tax Commissioner of the state of Connecticut has just condemned as being unsound, and apt to lead to budgetary dificulties. Don't allow any red herTings to be pulled across your path. The grand list of l945 is definitely unfair, inequitable and unjust to the average common citi. zen. Rather than to perpetuate these injusticeS to the common citizen the mayor might better have addressed himself to construc- tive methods for their relief and protection.
 The inValidation of the grand list of l045 can produce no such finan- cial chaos as the mayor envisions. Under existing law e tax can be laid upon the grand list of io44 Suf- ficient to discharge all necessary obligations of the City of Water bury. If the mayor has any doubt as to this let him have the Legis- 1ature validate such @ tax rather than to validate and approve an improper list.
 The mayor states that If there are any injustices in the grand list of l94b, and if such list is constitu- tionally vcalidated, the individual citizen can still obtain relief through an appeal. What Q rnockery. He knows that financially the individ. ual citizen cannot afford such Q procedure. It would cost each in. dividual taxpayer several hundred Aa9aoaa kA akkaI.. t.aAt,dd,.af kaSg Sa- lief, amounting 1t Is true, in many cases to only few dollars, but nevertheless dollars of which nc citizen should be unjustly deprived Multiply this cost of obtaining justice through existing legal pro- cedures by the 5000 or more grieved taxpayers, and the sun is staggering to the imagination.
 The Community Clubs have, by every legal means, attempted tc afford relief to the individual tax payer in 8 more economical man. ner. Among other means there has been suggested a joint suit oi all aggrieved taxpayers, addressed solely to the question of valuation The city officials have blocked thi; by their claim that they would op- pose any such joinder. If the mayol would truly act in behalf of thC average citizen he would endeavol in every way to permit such 6 joinder, even to the extent of ask. ing that the General Assembly pro- vide or validate such a procedure.
 The Community Clubs are inter- ested, of course, in seeing that the City of Waterbury meets its just obligations. They, however, car see no reason for the unseemly haste of this administration to vali. date and cover up situation ere. ated by their own wilful disre- gard of our charter. This situa. tion was not. and is not created