I 



■S: ' 



II 



this amount, on others it was less. In 

 several townships there were increases in 

 tax rates which partially offset the cut in 

 assessed valuations. 



Since early 1935 when the Farm Bu- 

 reau started its campaign for tax equaliza- 

 tion hundreds of meetings were held, the 

 services of a competent statistician, equiv- 

 alent to six months' full time were re- 

 quired in gathering data from the county 

 records, and more than $1,000 was spent 

 by the Farm Bureau in carrying on its 

 fight. During this time the personnel of 

 the County Board of Review was changed 

 and for the first time since anyone can 

 remember, a farmer member was ap- 

 pointed by the county judge at the request 

 of the Farm Bureau. 



The Assessors 



One disappointment followed another 

 that first year. It was 1935, the year of 

 the quadrennial reassessment. The town- 

 ship assessors had been advised of the 

 situation by the Farm Bureau tax com- 

 mittee. A few made a conscientious ef- 

 fort to equalize according to the law. 

 Other put down the old figures, thus 

 perpetuating the gross inequities, and 

 turned in their books. 



There were practical difficulties facing 

 the taxing officials. They had the prob- 

 lem of raising enough revenue to carry 

 on the local and county governments. 

 Any increase in city assessments — and 

 that's where the votes were — would 

 • bring a storm of protest. There were 

 Other problems which only public officials 

 can appreciate. Month after month 

 dragged by. It appeared that the Farm 

 Bureau, despite the preponderance of 

 evidence it had gathered to back its 

 claims, was bucking against a stone wall. 



The Turning Point 

 "The turning point came after the 

 State Tax Commission to which we finally 

 appealed, suggested the appointment of 

 a Fact-Finding Committee made up of 

 Madison county taxpayers," said Mr. 

 Castle. "Our Farm Bureau Tax Commit- 

 tee, with the help of Mr. Watson of the 

 lAA, had previously presented the results 

 of our study to the assessors and the coun- 

 ty board of review. We had checked ap- 

 proximately one thousand transfers of 

 farm and city property. We threw out 

 all those which could be criticised. We 

 actually used a little more than 400 sales 

 in all the townships. Of these, 306 were 

 city property and 96 rural. These records 

 showed that the assessment of rural prop- 

 erty for the year 1934 averaged 75.8 per 

 cent of sales values compared with a 

 county average of 35.7 per cent for city 

 property. 



"This information was brought before 

 the county meeting of the township as- 

 sessors in April, 1935. We appealed to 

 the assessors to equalize and correct this 

 indefensible situarion. Later when the 

 assessors turned in their books, moderate 



to substantial adjustments had been made 

 in 11 of the 22 townships. One or two 

 of these made large reductions in farm 

 property assessments. In 11 townshipts 

 practicaJly no reductions were made. This 

 brought the rural assessment average 

 down to 599 per cent and the city assess- 

 ment average down to 33.7 per cent. 

 However, only one township had been 

 brought down to the 40 per cent ievel on 

 which the assessors had previously 

 agreed." 



Then followed numerous appearances 

 of Mr. Castle, Mr. Watson, and Miss 

 Florence T. Johnson, the staristician em- 

 ployed to tabulate the property sales fig- 

 ures, before the County Board of Review. 

 No action was forthcoming. On the con- 

 trary, the Board of Review after giving 

 legal notice restored most of the valua- 

 tions ^viiich had been cut by the assessors 

 so the Farm Bureau carried the matter to 

 the State Tax Commission. The State 

 Commission was unwilling to act upon 

 the report of the Farm Bureau. The Com- 

 mission felt that there were not enough 

 usable sales to establish the alleged in- 

 equalities and afford them a basis for 

 action. The Commission then suggested 

 that a Fact-Finding Committee be set up 

 to look into assessments and values of 

 city and farm property and make recom- 

 mendations as to what should be done. 

 Faa Finding Committee 



On February 20, 1936, Chairman 

 Leland met with the members of the 

 Fact-Finding Committee in Edwardsville 

 to organize and outline a plan of pro- 

 cedure. Nine men signified their willing- 

 ness to serve on the committee. The nine 

 include three bankers, three farmers, one 

 secretary of a Building and Loan Associa- 

 tion, the chairman of the Board of Re- 

 view, and one newspaper publisher. H. 



HERMAN SCHAEFEH EDWIN RETHMEIEH 



"It isn't right for the non-mambani to "We wouldn't have got it ii 

 benefit too." hadn't been organised." 



U. Landon, secretary of the Edwardsville 

 Loan Association, was elected chairman, 

 and Frank Pike, cashier of the State Bank - 

 of St. Jacob, Secretary. 



This committee began work at once 

 and selected investigators to check the 

 records of sales. The committee drafted 

 its final report on May 21, 1936, all 

 members of the committee except the 

 chairman of the board of review being 

 present and signing the report. 



"The Fact-Finding Committee, " said 

 Castle, "backed up the findings of the 

 Farm Bureau Tax Conwnittee almost 100 

 per cent. Its report showed a county 

 average of rural assessments of 59.44 per 

 cent of fair cash value compared with 

 urban assessments of only 35.84 per cent. 

 This report was immediately transmitted 

 to the State Tax Commission. The Fact- 

 Finding Committee, likewise, outlined a 

 plan for equalizing assessments township 

 by township. 



Denied Request 



"On December 16, 1936, the State Tax 

 Commission denied the request of this 

 committee composed of six city residents 

 and three farmers, for a reassessment. 

 Their reason was that "there is no town- 

 ship for which the sales were available 

 in sufficient numbers to clearly establish 

 the assessment ratio as to rural property 

 . . . before the Commission can recom- 

 mend action as to equalization or reassess- 

 ment the evidence on file must be incon- 

 trovertible." Commissioner C. W. Terry 

 of Edwardsville took no part in this ac- 

 tion. 



"We had definitely decided to carry 

 our fight on to the courts, if necessary, 

 to get a square deal," continued Mr. 

 Castle. "There were only two courses 

 open — to go to court or get the State 

 (Continued oh page 10) 



fanners 



JULY. 1938 



