318 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



but those enumerated are the most important. - Many of you are familiar with 

 the manner in which our taxes are levied and collected, but perhaps it would 

 not be amiss to state briefly some of the more important operations by which 

 we arrive at the amount of taxes each person shall pay. First you are called 

 upon by an officer called a supervisor or assessor, who takes an enumeration of 

 your property and places a value upon the same. This valuation goes before a 

 board of review, who raise or lower the valuation wherever in their judgment 

 they think best to do so, and each person is taxed in proportion to the valua- 

 tion of his property upon the assessment roll, as fixed by this board of review. 

 The valuation of all the property in all the townships in a county is presented 

 to the board of supervisors, who equalize the different townships by adding a 

 per cent to those that are too low and deducting a per cent from those that are 

 too high. These equalized amounts are the basis for apportioning the State 

 and county taxes among the several townships. 



For the purpose of determining the amount of State tax that should be 

 apportioned to each county in the State there is a State board of equalization 

 that meets once in five years. Each county presents to this board a statement 

 showing the amount of all the real and personal property in the county as equal- 

 ized by the board of supervisors, and from these statements the State board 

 equalizes the different counties by adding to or deducting from, as the case 

 may be, and these equalized valuations forms the basis for apportioning the 

 State tax among the several counties. 



Perhaps a few moments spent in reviewing the different amounts that make 

 up our State and county taxes would not be misspent. For this purpose I will 

 read you the items in the State tax for the year 1883. 



For the State University $77,700 



For the State Normal School. 30,815 



For the State Agricultural College _ 32,178 



For the State Public School 45,800 



For the School for the Blind - 68,150 



Institution for the Deaf and Dumb 64,575 



State Reform School 45,000 



Industrial Home for Girls 65,856 



House of Correction _ 7,200 



Insane asylums 274,950 



Board of Fish Commissioners 20,000 



State Board of Health 2,000 



For military purposes 57,271 



Relief of sufferers by fire of 1881 68,900 



Paving Cooper street, Jackson 3,300 



For general purposes 610,975 



Making a total State t*ix of... $1,474,672 



Of this tax Berrien county pays 827,544. The items that make our county 

 tax for the year 1883 are as follows : 



Delinquent and rejected _ $818 



Stenographers' fund 600 



Agricultural societies 600 



County poor 4,000 



Jury fund.. 1,000 



Insane asylum 1,0C0 



