Evening star., 1953-10-24
RedSsessmentS
Called but Half
OF Sales Prices
Kutsch Cites Figures
At Prince Georges
Protest Hearing

Property reassessments in
Prince Georges County are aver
aging about At to Sc per cent of
current sales prices.
That was the estimate given at
a taxpayers protest hearing last
night by Louis Kutsch, county
supervisor of assessments!
His figures would seem to put
the Prince Georges County aver
age somewhat below that for all
Of Maryland. Deely K. Nice,
chairman of the State Tax Com
mission, said Maryland reassess-
ments have been averaging be-
tween so to so per cent of sales
value.
200 at Protest Hearing.
. Mr.. Nice told about 200 home
owners who attended the assess
ment protest hearing in North
western High School that Mary
land taxpayers have to suffer
drastic assessment increases now
because assessments have not
kept pace with steadily rising
property values since World War
II.
Il can understand your pain,
but under the law, there's really
nothing we can do about it" Mr..
Nice said
The meeting was called by the
county commissioners, who
seemed anxious to show the pro-
testing taxpayers that the State
Tax Commission not the
county boards responsible for
making assessments.
Inequities Conceded.
Both Mr. Nice and Albert w.
Ward, tax commission secretary,
conceded that inequitieS have
resulted because the commission
had to change its basic assess
ment formula in 1850 to conform
to a Maryland Court of Appeals
decision in a Calvert County
case.
Before. 1850, Mr.. Ward eX-
planned, the commission handled
the problem of imitation by peg
ging assessments on some preVi-
Gus year. Assessments in 1949,
for instance, were made at 1945
property values.
The Court of Appeals ruled out
that procedure. however, and
said the commission must assess,
as the law states. at full cash
value" After that decision, Mr..
Ward said, all the county asses
SorS were instructed to assess at
full cash value less whatever in
their opinion constituted abnor-
malitieS and imitation.
Only 4 Assessed.
AS a result, all assessments in
Maryland since 1850 have been
considerably higher than before
the court decision. This would
not have been particularly in
equitable except that under the
Maryland system, only one fifth
of a county is assessed every
year.
Homeowners lucky enough to
have been re-aSSeSsed in 1949,
therefore, are paying on much
lower rate than homeoWners re-
assessed in the last two years.
And the situation will become
even more inequitable next year,
when Maryland switches to a
three-year assessment cycle,
Walter F. Mulligan, president
of the county civic federation,
pointed out.
Under the new three-year
cycle law, assessments will not
go on the tax books until the
end of each three years. That
means that property owners
benefiting from the much lower
assessments in 1949--and to a
lesser extent in 1950-Will not
feel the effect of a higher as
SesSment until 1857.
Mr.. Ward said, however, that |
attempts will be made in the
1854 Maryland Legislature to
amend the three-year cycle law
to permit logging of assessments
annually. Such an amendment
PISSED the House but failed in the
closing hours Of the Senate dur
ing this years Legislature.
Most of the protesting citizens
last night came from the Chill
lum, BerWyn, Kent, Laurel and
Bowie sections of the county.
Those areas have been reaS-
sesSed this year.
Rural Areas Next.
Last year reasSeSSments were
made in the Hyattsville, Bla-
densburg, Riverdale and Lam
ham sections. Next year the as
SCISSORS move to rural southern
Prince Georges.
Avondale Citizens Association
leaders complained that assess
ments went up go to 70 per cent
in their community and asked
county commissioners to give
them a 25 per cent decrease
across the board.
Mr.. Nice said he thought such
a fiat decreases for a commu-
nifty would be illegal unless the
whole county was cut 25 per
cent.
Several speakers asked if the
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