The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-15


 This gross re-estlmate may pro- vide Q l-mill tax rate reduction for taxpayers of Waterbury in iot7.
 Five million dollars of the above | total may subsequently, be tied up in litigation, the assessor says.
 Mir. Jenks made known the new estimate In Q letter forwarded to l Mayor John s. Monagan this niorn- ing and released to the public | through the press by Executive Secretary John P. Fitzmaurice. The | Mayor had requested the complia. tion of Mir. Jenks before leaving for | Florida.
 The full text of Mir. Jenks' letter | to the Mayor is as follows:
 Tn reply to your letter of Jan | 2, wish to advise you we have been | considering ail complaints against | the recommended figures of the | George B. Horan Company in an effort to determine the level of l values as reported by that company | and to iron out such discrepancies | as it Is possible to do so in the | limited time at our disposal. We have just completed tabulation of | the values recommended by the | company which are as follows:
 Tt should be pointed out that | these are gross figures and that | veterans exemptions will have to be | allowed On all real-estate. The per- sonal property figure is net assessed | valuation, veterans eXem ptions | having been allowed in this.
 T regret that 1t is not possible | to give Q summary of the 1914 as- | sessments so that comparisons may | be made between the old assess | mentS and value recommended by | the company. The manner in which ! the 1924 assessment was made does | not permit Us to break down these | figures SO they can be compared | with the t045 recommended values | unless we make a very detailed study of each of the pages of the | 1924 abstract. This would entail considerable expense and is not feasible at this time. However at | some future date when the rush of | hearings is over 1t is our inten- tion to make such study and we | will be pleased to furnish you with complete breakdown at that time.
 Tt should be pointed out that the figure of $232, ,S23 ,O19 is not en- tirely accurate inasmuch as the figures have not been reached. De- auctions will no doubt be made from this figure by myself as well as the Board of Tax Review. It should also De borne in mind that there is possibility as much as five million dollars may be tied up in litigation"
 S424,O6S More For City 1
 It was estimated by city authori- ties today that the new gross esti- mate would provide the city with approximately $474,063 additional in revenue during the coming year. This is computed on the 92 per cent mean of the estimate Grand List | by which the city is confined in its eStimations for computing budgets | and subsequent tax rates. The State | Statutes provides that no estimate | must be based on more than 02 1 per cent of the List; collections l however, naturally can exceel that 1 amount.
 Based on the current nlillage rate l of 2s.75 now prevailing the esti- mated List would provide. when computed on a 100 per cent basis basis rather than the 92 per cent, approximately $6,606, ,536 in revenue. Based on the same rate by means of the same computation the $2l5,- 100000 previously estimated List, and submitted to the Board of Fi- nance for purposes of computing the budget and tax rate would yield approximately $6,l8l ,250 or $5l5, ,286 additional revenue.
 The actual $474O63 estimated revenue is approximately the 92 per cent estimate of that $5l5, 286 to which the city must adhere in computing its revenue yielding sur- pluses.
 It seemed highly probable today that reduction of approximately { mills from the current tax-rate of 2o.75 may be effected for 1947 as result of this final gross estimate. This will depend entirely upon the status of the city's 1946 budget, it was pointed out by authorities to- day.
 Rises May Be Expected
 Should the spectre of imitation in- crease on a nationwide basis c parallel increases in the city's bud- get is foreseen; or should some con- tingency arise whereby the city's fiscal expenditures would be in- creased 1t may prevent the reduc- ton of the tax rate. However, some unauthorities today were more than hopeful that this new gross estimate will result in approximate ly 4-mill decrease for lo47.
 According to Section 19 of the City Charter printed in yesterdays Democrat, city authorities are not permitted to amend or change the present (lo46) budget or tax rate.
 This will mean that any addi- tional tax decrease will not be ef- fected until the l947 budget is esti- mated and adopted in December of this year.
 as stressed in MT. Jenk's letter, the laCVer pointed OuC Cooay tnaL Lne Horan firm was unable to estimate these exemptions because the in- formation as to the individual vet- erans was not available. The com- pany therefore estimated the valu- ation on a gross basis.
 Veterans Exemptions Clarified
 MT. Jenks said today that the processing of these exemptions will be undertaken by his firm soon. All veterans in whom title to property | is vested, and who have filed copies of their honorable discharge papers with the Town Clerks ofice (City | HalD are entitled to exemptions.
 These have been computed as fol- lows under State Statute and the CT | Bill:
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