The Valuation of Public Service Corporation Property: Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers,; vol. LXXII, June, 1911, ASCE 1190Riggs, Henry Earle
General
The Valuation of Public Service Corporation Property: Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers,; vol. LXXII, June, 1911, ASCE 1190
In this case the railroad had no records, and the work was of value to
them, not only as a check on the work of the State, but also as giving
them complete records of permanent way. It was not done independently
of, and after, the State work, but was organized so that the field work
of both railroad company and State was done at the same time.
No other complete work of valuation was done by the railroad companies.
During the trial of the cases, no contrary or different valuations were
set up. No special attack was made on the work, except to select here
and there some specific example of a building which was appraised at a
higher figure than cost, perhaps half a dozen in all, and to introduce
expert evidence, particularly on land and right-of-way values. Aside
from the money expended on the litigation, there were no expenditures by
the roads in checking up the work. On the contrary, a number of
managers, at their own expense, had typewritten copies of the final
report as to their own lines made, in order to file in their records.
It is a fact that only one of the seventy-eight roads made a complete
appraisal, covering 387.8 miles of main line, and none of the other
roads or mileage went to any considerable expense.
_The Cost of the Work._—No complete statement of the total cost of the
work of valuation in Michigan has ever been issued as a public document.
The cost of the work, including salaries of appraiser, engineers,
assistants, clerks, all expenses of the Board of Review, all expenses
connected with Professor Adams' non-physical appraisal, also all office
rent, stationery, supplies, telegraph, telephone, and railroad expenses,
printing and binding—in short every dollar chargeable to the Michigan
railroad appraisal of 1900—footed up to $70,604.21.
The exact mileage of roads in the State was:
Main track 7,082.35 miles.
Second track 164.83 "
Branches 730.92 "
Spurs and sidings 2,904.70 "
_________ ______
Total 10,882.80 miles.
Average cost per main-line mile $9.97
" " " total-track " 6.50
The exact figures of cost of the subsequent work of appraisal, or the
costs of the litigation, are not available to the writer. In a general
way, it may be said that the cost to the State of the railroad tax cases
was not far from $75,000, and that the expenses of the second and third
appraisals were less than $50,000, so that, to date, the entire cost to
the State of Michigan is less than $200,000 for the three appraisals and
the litigation growing out of them.
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