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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1956)
Text Of Statement Prepared in .Reply To Questions of Procedure in Talk Following is the text of a statement issued yesterday by thj county assessor's office. .It was prepared in answer to ques tions of procedure in the office raised during a talk in Medford last Saturday by State Tax Com missioner Sam Stewart: On June 5, 1952 an agree ment, copies of which are on file, was entered into between Jackson county and the State Tax Commission for the purposes of a reappraisal of certain classes of taxable property of this county, namely, real prop erty, constituting land and build ings. Quote Excerpti Pertinent excerpts are quoted from this agreement . . . "That the State Tax Commission should assume full responsibility for convicting and completing the appraisal or re-appraisal of all taxable property in each classi fication in Jackson county? Ore gon. That the State Tax Com mission shall begin the work in April, 1952, and carry it to com pletion as rapidly as feasible, with every effort made to have the work completed for use not later than the 1956 assessment roll, and that the State Tax Com nssion will provide a supervisor and such employees as the Com mission deems necessary, using member of the appraisal crew of the County Assessor's office when available and assigned by the Assessor. It being agreed and understood that it is desir able for the regular appraisal crew to work on the reappraisal in conjunction with the Tax Commission men and under the Tax Commission supervisor for the purpose of further develop ment in appraisal procedure and technique. It is mutually agreed that members of the Assessor's appraisal crew while assigned by said Assessor to the appraisal program will be under the sup ervision of the State Tax Com mission supervisor." "It is also understood and agreed that the assessor shall continue with the regular per sonal property and equalization work and shall continue to have access to the State Tax Commis sion for usual and necessary guidance and assistance' as here tofore; (git is further mutually agreed that the appraisal pro gram also3 includes the follow ing operations: Preparation of maps for tax lotting and evalu ating all properties. Program Slated In accordance with the above agreement, the appraisal pro gram was started. A supervisor from the State Tax Commission was sent to Medford, a field staff was provided, and a separ ate office was established so that this work could be carried on without interruption and without interfering with the reg ular routine of the assessor's of fice. The appraisals were compiled on forms and records in accord ance with0 State Tax Commis sion regulations and specifica tions. A typical residential appraisal form shows the cost per square foot as per class, with a column for adjustments for above or rate, quality variation, condition, depreciation and obsolescence, over and under improvements, district depreciation, total eco nomic adjustment with a final point for total cost less depre ciation and a column for ''ap praised value." In 1954, when the re-appraisal was nearing the stage of com pletion, it was necessary to de termine a ratio for assessment i. to be applied to each appraisal. After computing the overall fig ures, as reflected in the final figures set forth on the forms for each appraisal, it was de termined by those in authority working in the reappraisal, that 25 would meet all the require ments. 11 FREE PICK-UP AND DELIVERY "' ACM BUY CLEA ohorpa 2-4263 Ratio Applied A 25 ratio was applied to each final figure established on each appraisal card or form. It was not until March of 1955 that the assessor's office was aware that the normal conditions factor of 70 was NOT re flected in the figures that were turned over to us by the State Tax Commission upon, comple tion of the reappraisal. The basis for the Normal Con ditions as expressed herein is contained in "Regulations" is sued by the State Tax Commis sion, article 8205.1 and is set out in part: ARTICLE 8205.1 "Real Prop erty Valuation for Tax Pur poses." "True cash value of real prop erty shall have as its basis mar ket value, and it may be above or below market value by a, per centage which reflects normal conditions. This percentage re lationship will be determined by the State Tax Commission as of January 1 each year, and will be made available to each assessor not later than February 1 of that year." Letter Quoted The first official written docu ment, relating to ratios, that ap pears in our files, is a letter from the State Tax Commission and is set out in its entirety. April 12, 1955 Mr. Robert G. Fowler Jackson County Assessor Medford, Oregon Dear Bob: "It has come to our attention that there may be some dis crepancies in the ratios being used on various classes of prop erty in your office for 1955. Since the, reappraisal is com plete, and the new values are being used for the first time, it is very important that a uniform ratio be applied to the true cash value of all property. Commissioner Stewart and I will probably be in your office within the next week or ten days, and at that time we would like to discuss this problem more fully. If you are using any var iable ratios, however, I would supgest that you hold up the ap plication of them until we have had an opportunity to go over the whole problem. We will let you know in ad vance when we will be in Med ford. With best regards, I am Yours very truly, Samuel B. Stewart, Commissioner (signed) By Harry J. Logan, Chief Engineer. , Actually the variable ratios referred to in the above letter were not in regard to the 25 ratio applied to real property but to a 26 ratio being used on personal property in the cate gory of inventories. The results of this meeting are not docu mented, but as a result of the meeting, the personal property department was ordered to re duce the 26 ratio on inven tories to 25.2 , which was done. The second, and perhaps the most important letter having to do with ratios, is dated Decem ber 12, 1955 and is set out in part: Mr. R. G. Fowler Jackson County Assessor Medford, Oregon Dear Bob: "This letter is being written to answer yours of December 6, and as confirmation of our con versation in Medford last Fri day, December 9. In your letter you proposed using a ratio of 31.25 for 1956 because that would keep your real property assessments at their present level. I agree. with Ihii in theory, but as a practical matter I think you should use 30. This is a much more convenient figure and it is just as accurate as your 31.25. You would continue to appraise real property as you have in the past at market value and then assess it at 25 of your appraised value. Since the normal conditions factor has been set at 80 for 1956, the assessments on real property would then be on a theoretical ratio of .25 - 80 - 31.25. But since your apprais In by 11 - Out by 5 All Work Fully Guaranteed Never a Service Charge issued Yesterday By County als are on the conservative side (sales indicate that appraised value was about 95 of market value) the ratio of 25 is more properly 24 (.25 x .95): and 24 - 8 - 30 which is the figure that will closely approxi mate the ratio of assessed value to true cash value as of January 1 if no change is made in the assessment level of real prop erty. Using 30 on personal prop erty will result in higher assess ments than you had in 1955, so your adjustments in normal con ditions factor will be accomp lished without loss in assessed value. There will be a shift in taxes onto personal property but this is due to the fact that the ratio on personal property was set too low in 1955 . . ." Yours sincerely, Samuel B. Stewart Commissioner (signed) By Harry J. Loggan Chief Engineer Not Uniform The foregoing has been a statement of the facts and cir cumstances surrounding the ap plication of a 25' ratio to the market or appraised values of land and buildings, rather than the application of that same 25 ratio to True Cash Value. Does this mean that a taxpayer of Jackson County is being unfair ly or over assessed or is paying more taxes at 100 of market value than if the ratio was ap plied to True Cash Value? It does not. ' Perhaps a clearer understand ing can be achieved by citing a Supreme Court decision as ap plied to ORS 308.205 as pertain ing to True Cash Value . . . "The ultimate objective of appraise ment and assessment is to bring about the distribution of the cost of government in just relation ship to the value of each tax payer's property. Unless the as sessment exceeds the property's value the individual taxpayer is not -injured by an assessment which is too big or too low, pro vided the same error in propor tionate degree is made through out the tax levying district. Thus uniformity is more important to the taxpayer than appraisal in terms of the correct number of dollars." An even clearer picture can be obtained by quoting a section from the report of the Legisla tive Interim Tax Study Commit tee as submitted to the Forty- eighth Legislative Assembly and dated December 13, 1954 . . . "The fundamental fact is that the individual's property tax bill is high or low according to the revenue requirements of the county, city, school district and special districts which have au thority to levy taxes, and not because of any change in the general level of assessed values . . ." Pheasants Stealing Tree Seeds for Mice Salem (U.R) Fowl play in the forests! Research foresters attempting to determine how much mice like tree seed as food have dis covered that China pheasants were eating the Douglas fir seeds they .had distributed for the benefit of the mice. The pheasants didn't scare eas ily but Jack Gartz, who. is con ducting the research for the State Forestry Department hopes the State Game Commission has given him a solution. The Commission has author ized Gartz to blast near the birds on a small island near the State Forestry Department quar ters at the edge of Salem. He can blast but not harm the birds. The island is populated by several hundred ear-tagged field mice the only "residents" of the area. The pheasants are strictly intruders. - - Gartz said: "As far as I know, this is the only island in the world populated entirely by mice." Safety experts say the danger of overturning a tractor increases four times when speed is doubled. Ask for Elmer m jjf W jP? V LUCY GARDNER Active in 4-H Work Eagle Point Girl Is Named 4-H Club Member of Month Miss Lucy Gardner, 17, a senior at Eagle Point high school has been named Jackson county 4-H member of the month. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Gardner, route 1, box 39, Eagle Point. A 4-H club member for eight years, Lucy Gardner began 4-H work while her family lived in the Butte Falls area, joining a cooking club lead by Mrs: John Henshaw. When the family mov ed to Eagle Point, she joined the Antelope club and since has participated in club activities as well as projects in sewing, cooking, freezing, swine, beef dairy, junior leadership and fishing. Fifth Division Project Lucy is now making a wool dress for her fifth division clo thing project, of which Mrs. E. A. Malloroy is leader. She also has an Angus heifer and cow for beef project, under the direction of Leonard Freeman, she is enrolled in the 4-H jun ior leadership project for the third year. She has entered several ex hibits at the county fair. In 1953 and 1954 she won the bread bak ing contest and represented the county at the state fair. Twice a member of the Jackson county demonstration team at the state fair, she demonstrated sack lun ches in 1952. and salad making in 1951. Miss Gardner won a county championship on white bread in 1953 and the county champion ship in style review in 1955, and was champion cooking judge at the state fair, in 1952. She was a member of the .Antelope club girls team which was state champion julging team in 1952. Enters Angus in Fair She took an Angue heifer to the Oregon State fair to win the Pacific Coast Aberdeen An gus association women's auxil iary award in 1954. Miss Gard ner has attended 4-H summer school three times as a scholar ship winner. Both her sister Dianna, 15, and brother Arthur, 14, belong to the Antelope club. Her fath er was a club leader last year. The Gardners live on a ranch of about 1,000 acres and raise Angus cattle. She plans to become a regist ered nurse, taking pre-nursing at Oregon State college. Two Men Sentenced For Slaying Women Portland (U.R) Penitentiary sentences were meeted to two men in Circuit Court here yes terday both of them charged with slaying women. Fulton E. JacTcson was sen tenced to 82 months for the gunshot death last September of Mrs. Mae Taylor, 37, Port land. Donald K. Bookhultz, 41, drew a four-year term for the Septem ber knife slaying of Mrs. Clara G. Simpson, the 35-year-old wife of a Portland taxi driver. Jackson's sentence was un usual in that he drew a 41-month sentence for manslaughter and another 41 months under a rare ly invoked statute covering fel onies involving unlicensed fire arms. Both men were originally charged with murder, but the charges were reduced to man slaughter. 10 Per. Mo. NEW or USED, On Rental Purchase Plan We'll be glad to give you Particulars. Come in today! ERSKINE'S PIANO STORE -1304 Kings Highway ( l i l l ! I Osteopathic Doctors, Surgeons Clarify Staff Status In RVMH Because the staff status of osteopathic doctors in the pro posed new Rogue Valley Memor ial hospital has been questioned, a spokesman for the Southern Oregon Society of Osteopathic physicians and surgeons recent ly released the following to clarify their attitude toward the hospital: "The . question ' has been re peatedly raised by certain poten tial donors to the newly planned community hospital as to wheth er osteopathic physicians and surgeons are to be given staff status. To clarify the position of the osteopathic society, we wish" to issue the following state ments: "1. We believe that the hos pital project is an imperative one to the welfare of the area. Service lo Area "2.We believe it should be operated so as to service the en tire community and such is surely the intent of the Federal Government in making Hill-Burton funds available for such pro jects. S. We believe that the pa tients of all qualified physicians and surgeons should have access to its facilities (i.e. free choice of physicians). "4. We will not engage in any inter - professional wrangling which would block transposing a community necessity into real ity. t) roll rr T T IS LIGHTWEIGHT AND EASILY HAHDLED . . . AXH UV" C4jf POWERFUL MOTOR CREATES EXTRA STRONG VACUUM. I 7 WM u"ing! , REACHES ALL PARTS OF ROOM WITHOUT MOVING. , T?- jjj ready ij, CAN BE USED FOR COMPLETE H0USECLEANIN6. ONE ATTACHMENT FOR FLOORS AND RUGS .ONE SIDE CLEANS RUGS ... LIFT. IT FLIPS OVER THE OTHER SIDE CLEANS BARE FLOORS. ONLY G.E. HAS IT! Weisfield's Jewelers 122 E. Main, Medford Please send me the G.E. Swivel-Top Canister Vacuum as advertised at 49.95. I am enclos ing ? and will send $... or S per month until the entire amount is paid. NAME PHONt - ADDRESS HOW LON6 CITY : ZONE STATE WHERE EMPLOYED Hw LONG CREDIT REFERENCES Friday, January 27, 1SS8 Assessor's Office Pledge Continued Service "5. We pledge the osteopathic profession's continued service to this community to the extent of our ability and hope that our patients may ultimately be bene fited equally with all. "Thus, the osteopathic profes sion is behind the hospital pro ject even though osteopathic phy sicians and surgeons are, in pres ent plans, excluded from any staff status in the new hospital. The important thing is for the community to have this hospital. Our friends and patients may rest assured, . that in giving to this nospitai, tney are giving to a worthy cause and one in the in terests of humanity." Court Records POLICE COURT Thomas E. Davis, no operator's li cense on person, S10; failure to yield right of way. S10. Ernest E. Shulke. violation of basic rule, $10; failure to stop at red light. S5. Lesta Dufek, violation of basic rule, $10. DISTRICT COURT Joseph Minor, violation of basic rule. $10. i Charles C. Cowan, ' failure to stop for school bus unloading children, $12.50. Harold E. Anthony, overload, $62. Ronald L. Swindler, truck speeding, $10. ' Rose Ann Vinson, possession of un tagged venison, $25 and costs, sus pended. CIRCUIT Ralph H. Lounsbury vs. Marjorie Lounsbury, divorce complaint. per week 1 OPEN MMM MM MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE ELEYWC McMinnville Child Killed by School Bus McMinnville (U.R) Cathy Johnson, five-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Johnson, was killed instantly yesterday afternoon when she ran into the path of a school bus after leav ing her kindergarten class. The girl was one of a group of children who had been play ing in newly-fallen snow after being dismissed from classes 15 minutes before the accident. , Two witnesses told police Cathy darted between double parked cars directly in the path of the bus. Garth Reece, driver of the bus and a graduate stu dent at Linfield College, was not cited by police. The accident was the first pedestrian fatality in McMinn ville in three years. 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