Reply To Ex-supervisor

Mu. Editor -Reing absent from the city, is tlie reasoo for not replying sooner to the gentleman who signs himsclf "exsupervii-or." He has tried to show that Ann Arbor city is not loo btgh or unjustly eqimlized. [ leave that to the taxpayers of ihe county, who ate able to examine and juilgo lor tbemteWw. I have talked with inany lamiera and tuUfound om wlio believed that the townships" have grown poorer within the last twenty years. Will the "ex-supervisor" exptain why twelve towns have been reduced in twenty years, from 1859 to 1878, the litlle sum of $580,000, and mostly rich townships? Perhaps hc will say they were too high in 1859, but have they not iuiproved tliat auiount ia twenty yoars? Be says mueh oapiMl come to tbc city of Ann Arbor; liow inucli lie don't say, or know. Sonie ex and some present supervisors nrgue that many farmers have moved into the city, thereby increasing our value. We grant that a few have brought capital here, built houses and retained some personal property whieh is taxable, but most of theni either exchanged property or boughta house and lot and have no more. All such do not iticrca8e our value or leave a lownship poorer, for the farm is lef t and some other tax payer owns it. All suoh explanations do not prove that the city of Ann Arbor is nut too liigh-valiu'd or oqualized. Does tho ex supervisor think that Manchester, Sylvan and Soio have been raised n propmtion to Ann Arbor city or Ypsilnnti? I know wc h:ivo annexeil t iiu riek &tfa ward and a strip s. and w. of the city, but wc deducted the .ame from the township, (wliiijjithe "ex supervisor," with bis keen intellect, ought to have discovered). Uut enough of that. We have seen, in an Ann Arbor paper an article, taken from tho Manchester BaterptÍM, lieaded "incquality of taxes." fhe unknown writer compares the six western towns, and makes bis statement, but carcfully avoids to show the reason or cause why, which is very simple. Let us examine tho several MMMneati aüd equalizations: Lima is assessed, real and personal, $1,115,855; equalized, $1,028,000. Lyndon, real and personal, $1,240,360; equalizeJ, 1, 218,000. Freedom, real, $480,580 ; personal, writer says, $57,440 ; tula!, $544.020; cqualized, 950,000. Sharm real and personal, $553,905 ; equalized, $1,000,000. Jiridgewater, real and personal, '$700,1. 0 ; cqualized, $1,000,000. [f a township supervisor as-e.4es only onehalf of the cqualized value, then it follows tliut the percentage per $100 must be doublé, or just in pro portion to the assessment. So you see, had Mr. James been assessed $12,000, he would have to pay, according to equalization, doublé ; and if Sharon, Freedom and Bridgewater had asHM0Í as high as Lima, they would have to pay the same as Lima, or nearly as much ; or, in other words, if each supervisor had ¦il as he promised when he qualified, that difference would not appear. Has Sylvan assessed as high a.s Lima? Our system of taxation is imperfect ; sonie must pay taxes on what they do not own, and somo pay little or no taxes on what they do own (mortgages, for insiance, for it is almost impossible to find them). Iarge amounts of money are let out of the county, and notes and many mortgages are not enrolled at all. The tate has cqualized Washtenaw county at 80 millions of dollars, and if honestly assessed, it is even worth more. It won't do to .xiy other counties don't do it, let the supervisors of Washtenaw county obey the law as they promise, and by so doing we can compel otbers to do the same, thereby saving a great deal of controversy. Each supervisor ought to know very nearly the value of property in his respective townf-hip, city or ward. Some of the townships have reported to the secretary of state in horses, cattle swine and shecp more value than their rolls show in personal property. One town reports value $1 18,%1 ; personal asNMNM on the rolls, $57,440. How is that for high? Ann Arlmr, Mnrc-h Mi, 1H.SI.