What State Tax Commission Will Find Out About Us

WHAT STATE TAX COMMISSION WILL FIND OUT ABOUT US

The Data for Washtenaw County has been  _____ by the County Register and Treasurer

COUNTY ASSESSED AT 87% OF ITS TRUE CASH VALUE

There Was During The Year Ending July 1st 610 Transfers of Real Estate----The Considerations Amounted to $840,726---The Assessed Valuation of the Same for 1898 was $727,689.

From the Daily Argus

During the year ending July 1, 1899, there were 610 transfers in real estate in Washtenaw county, the consideration for which aggregated $840,726. The assessed value of the property thus transferred was in 1898, $727,689, indicating, if this class of figures are worth much, that Washtenaw county is assessed at 87 per cent. of its cash value, a fact, we take it, which will be equalled by but few counties in the state.

These figures were obtained for the commission by the register of deeds and the county treasurer, the register making out a description of the transfers and the consideration, and the treasurer inserting the assessed valuation of these descriptions in the years 1890, 1894 and 1898. These transfers are taken in order, and are not tabulated by cities and towns, that work being left for the tax commission office.

Before these returns were sent to Lansing the Argus was given an opportunity to make a tabulation from them and consequently is able to announce what the state tax commission will find in reference to Washtenaw county.

The announced purpose of the tax commission is to secure an equalization of taxes throughout the state as well as between township and township. It is fair to presume that they intend using these figures for that purpose. Consequently the publication of these figures can have no influence against the taxation of any community, as they will be given official promulgation by the state tax commission before the next annual session of the supervisors. They were compiled by the Argus reporters without any knowledge of where they struck or who would be hit by them.

It must be said of the figures that exact justice cannot be done without a knowledge of the circumstances of the transfer of each piece of property. For instance, a piece of property may have been built on after the assessment and the transfer. Another illustration noticed by the Argus compilers was in where a brewery property was sold for $1,000. It was down on the assessment roll at $8,000. If this transfer were to be eliminated from the Manchester list, instead of that township being assessed at 93 per cent. of its value, as shown in the table the percentage would drop to 78. Other illustrations of the same kind could be given, although only one other would have so marked an effect. That is a property in Scio, where the consideration for the transfer is given at $1,825 and the assessed valuation only $1,800. If this transfer were eliminated instead of its being shown by the table that Scio assessed at 83 per cent of its value, it would be shown that its percentage was 116. Another illustration may be given from Ypsilanti city as to the effect one single transfer has upon the percentage table. In this city a Mr. Rathfon bought some property assessed at $4,800 for $15,000. If this one transfer had not been made, Ypsilanti's percentage would have jumped from 77 to 83. How the tax commission, viewing the matter at a distance, could tell what property to eliminate from the tables to make them just, is beyond the Argus ken.

The table indicates that there is a wide range in the assessments from 59 per cent in Augusta to 134 per cent in Northfield. At the next session of the supervisors its members, to do their various localities justice, must be posted on all transfers of property. The following table shows the number of transfers in each city or township from July 1, 1898, to July 1, 1899, the aggregate consideration for the sales, the amount at which the property was assessed and the percentage of the assessed valuation to the amount for which the property sold :

                          # 0f Transfers         Consideration          Assessed 1898          Per Cent

Ann Arbor.               141                         $192,960                      $165,544                    86

Ypsilanti                    99                           123,487                          94,995                    77

 Ann Arbor Town.     12                             39,300                          37,600                    96

Augusta                    37                             32,355                            18,925                    59

Bridgewater.            19                             24,900                          22,270                     89

Dexter                        8                              12,900                           12,050                    90

Freedom                    4                              10,575                             11,100                   135

Lodi                           14                             22,008                           16,900                    77

Lyndon.                      6.                             13,000                           10,200                    79

Lima                           8                               17,100                            19,050                    111

Manchester             42                              51,258                           47,450                     93

Northfield                21                               16,154                             20,110                    124

Pittsfield                  15                              32,025                           30,900                      96

Salem                       10                               16,155                             13,530                      84

Saline                       19                               32,578                            33,095                    102

Scio                          30                              39,805                            32,950                     83                   

Sharon                     20                               31,545                            36,320                     115

Superior                    6                               20,330                           20,200                      99

Sylvan                      52                                53,125                           40,475                       76

Webster                    5                                 4,100                             5,000                      122

York                         34                               32,210                             29,975                       93

Ypsilanti Twp.          8                               11,906                               9,050                        85

                           ______                           _________                       ________.              __________

                               610                         $840,726                          $727,689                      87