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To Abolish The Board

To Abolish The Board image
Parent Issue
Day
6
Month
November
Year
1895
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

From all over the state comes the complaint, every iall, when the s uper isors meet, of their injustice with ïeference to cities in the equalization f taxation. There is scarcely a county in Michigan where the practice is not indugl(cl in by the township supervisors (,f reducing the equalization oí their cwii townships and placing the same npor. the cities or vHlagés that may t-o so uni'ortunate as to be within boundaries of their county. Ii has become such a common practice that"these supervisors hardly dare go back to their eonstituents without some sort of á record in that respect. II they i'uil to get ïrom $5,OOC to $50,000 whittled olí írom thèir townsiip and sadiUed on to tome ene élse they are considered oí no account as supervisors. This is not overdrawing tlie picIimc but very litUe. It is common ali over the state, but the practice cemmeneed here in this county. Kx Supervisor Jas. L. Gilbei-t, of Sjlvan, is given credit for-being the ïulher of tile plan. ■ Ifc 'Origina ie] ro doubt in an honest way, the oities were growing more ropidly than Ilis country. Then it bccame sort o: a matter of pride on the part of each supervisor. It was so easüy t ccompHshed that they woukl do it to brag about at home, until finally ir became to be considered a part of the duty of that officiali and a supervisor ivho does hot now go back Lome from the annual meeting without a few hairs at least, of the city's scalp is neither.a statesrnan nor fiLaucier. Iü Wayne county, in order to i)ro1ec( themsolves, the city liad its board of aldermen made members of the l oard of supervisors, and in that ',vay secured a majority, and stopped the I lundering. There are no other oities in the state large enough to ;iccomplish that, so they all have to grin end bear it. But there is a strong feellng growiii!; up all over the stato tp a.bolish the board of supervisors entirely, and In their place havo a county board of auditors or commissioners, thiec in number, to audit all the oills of ■the county and attend to the rountys business. It is claimed by states adopting this systm, Ohio, for inslance. that the people are better served, the affairs of the county more rconomically administered. and that oxact justice is secured in the matter of taxation between the cities and 1 ownships. That something will have to 1:e C(ne before long stands to reasan. The continual lowering of the townships, and raising of the cities will poon work such an injustice that open rcbellion of some sort will result. To-day a. small house and lot in 1be city, such as a common every-day working man owns, assessed at $1,000, has to pay for taxes $16.00 a year. Take a farm in the country, i'i the wealthy township of Pittsfield, for instance, assessed at $1,000 and the tax upon it for 1894 was orly $5.70. The difference is too great altogether, and yet it is constantly growm greater. This year the city io Aibor was again loaded down oy the supervisors with $100,000, and Yps:lanti with $50,000, while overy Township in the county save ííylvan 8D(i Augusta divided the plunder- for plunder it certainly is, nothiug more ror less. Then again, here in the city propeity is placed upon the assessment rol! for just about its cash value, ■p hilo tliere is not a townsnip in the rcunty, we honestly beüeve, where property is assessed for more than cue-half its valué, ana in mauy insta nces an offer oí three times the alue placed on the rólls -vvould not hi accepted for the property. And yet the law makes ifc a misdemeanor, punishable ty fine and impiisonment for a supervisor to assesf property in his district for less than its casli value. Oit page 1270 of Howell's Statules in givlng the duty oí assessors, it reads this way : The supervisor SHALL estímate, according to his 1 fst information and judgment, the TBUE CASH YALUE of every parce1 oí real property, and set the same down opposite such parcel." Further on it defines cash value : Sec. 17. "The words 'cash value' henever used in tliis act, Hall be LelO to mean the usual selling irice ar. the placo where the to ■ hich the term is npplied sliall at the. 1ime of aspessinent. being the price v hich could be, obtained therefor at private sale, and not at forced.sale or auction." 'Jhose words and tlieir .lefinition aic eertainly very plain. There ran L-c 110 mistake in understanding the av. There is no ambiguity about h , 000 Here Is another provisión in the la'w : Sec. 103. "If any supervisor or othn- assessing officer of any township or city shall ■villfully assess any propeity at MORE Olí LESS than what ].■ l clieves to be its true cash value, :!!ty oí a .mis-.lemc an( on conviction thereoí he shall ! i ■ punished by imprisonment Ín the . county jail not exceeding ono year, cr by fine not exceeding three hunCreCi dollars, at the discretion oí the oourt." etc. The same provisión applies to 1 oards of review. The Janguage is plain, yet there ís carcely a supervisor in the state ttat does not viólate liis oath oí office and lay himself Hable to fine tiiic' imprisonment both, for violating the laiv. The grand jury up in Bay county í:oc íiíter some o f these assessors and tliey niay havo to suffer for tlieir av" ï Ueaking liefore the end comes. "Wliy is not a man who breaks tijk law as niuch a criminal as oue vTio breaks the law relative to stealing, for instance '.' This law is broken for the neneüt o f some person or persons and orne i f I her person or persons have to pay it. Il the property in any ship i. assessed at oue-thinl or balí its cash value, and th ■ property In the city is assessed at its real i:ash alue, then there is a wronii lone. law has been broken. The property owner in the city is íorced to pay more than .his just iroportion cf the tas burden. The one who is responsïble for it is a l'iv breaker ji;sl as mueh as any one is a law lieaker who violates the sta tutes relrtive to taking property not his own. In iaot that is just what is acconip'ished by breaking that statute. It robs one man for the benefit of anolher man. These are pretty plain words, but i tliey are trnthful words, and we defy í.ny man to disprove their truth. And because that law is made ftuch p. dead let tor. a ud because oí the constant greed of supervisors at their animal sessions, this feeüng relative t-i a change and abolishing the board of supervisors as a county legislative b ody, is taking root rapidly among thc people, and we believe Ihe day is not íar distant when a change will be made. I -would not be surprising if Uie next legislature submitted an amendmenl to Secs. 6 and 11 of the constitution to a vote oí the people, .and ve believe that there are OLOugh justice loving men in the state te adopt it ií it is submitted.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier