A Taxpayer Fights the Assessor for Six Years — and Loses
William Craswell petitions the county board to strike fraudulent assessments from the rolls and demands back the money already taken; the commissioners refuse, then set the rates for everyone else.
PROCEEDINGS of the Commissioners of Jefferson County, W.T. — Adjourned Meeting, August 2?, 1876. Board met at the Auditor's office in Port Townsend, at 1 o'clock P.M. Present — G. F. Gerrish and Geo. W. Harris, Commissioners.
The petition of Wm. Craswell, presented by his attorneys, Dennison & Blanchard, and filed on the 16th August, 1876, praying that some order be made or some proceedings be had, by which the assessment of said petitioner for the years 1871-2-3-4-5 be revised and stricken from the rolls respectively, and declared to be excessive, fraudulent, &c., was taken up and read.
The report of G. M. Haller, attorney-at-law, upon the above named petition, was also taken up and read, and after due consideration the Board refused to grant the petition.
Comes now William Craswell, by his attorneys, Dennison & Blanchard, and files demand for moneys illegally demanded and collected from him by county officers — May 30, 1872 .... $316.53 July 31, 1873 .... 165.60 August 3, 1874 .... 136.75 August 15, 1875 .... 38.20 which demand is refused.
Ordered, by the Board, that the assessor for the years 1874, 1875 and 1876 require William Craswell to furnish a list of his property in this county duly verified, as required by Section 16 of an act entitled "An Act for the Assessing and Collecting of County and Territorial Revenue," approved November 29, 1871. And that said assessor amend the assessment rolls for said years by correcting any imperfect descriptions that may exist on lands for which the taxes have not been paid, and that the Auditor correct the duplicate rolls and the Treasurer the schedules of unpaid taxes in conformity thereto.
The assessment roll of Jefferson county for the year 1876 having been examined, corrected and approved, was signed by the Chairman of the Board.
Total amount of real property .... $331,352.50 Total amount of personal property .... 15,343.00 Total .... $346,695.50
Estimated and determined by the Board that the amount of money to be raised for County purposes for the year 1876 by tax .... $3,163.52 Amount for Territorial purposes .... $1,946.78 Amount for school purposes .... $1,946.78
Ordered, that a tax of 6 mills be levied upon every dollar's worth of taxable property in Jefferson county for the year 1876 for county purposes; for school purposes a tax of 4 mills; for Territorial purposes a tax of 4 mills; for road purposes a tax of 2 mills.
Ordered, that a poll tax of $2 be assessed and paid by each and every male inhabitant of Jefferson County over the age of 21 and under the age of 50 years, and that the same be applied for county purposes. And that a road tax of $2 be levied upon every male person between the ages of 21 and 50 years, liable to perform labor on the public roads.
G. F. GERRISH, Ch'n. Attest: J. [?], Clerk.
“Comes now William Craswell, by his attorneys, Dennison & Blanchard, and files demand for moneys illegally demanded and collected from him by county officers.”
Jefferson County in 1876 assessed $346,695.50 of property and argued over every dollar of it; Craswell's six-year fight over assessments he called 'excessive and fraudulent' is the ancestor of every modern appeal to the county board of equalization. What the record makes plain is the machinery of who pays: a $2 poll tax on every man between 21 and 50, plus a road tax on the same men, in a territory where the property levy fell hardest on those who owned ground. The same questions — who assesses, who appeals, and who can afford to — sit on the county's agenda still.
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