The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

tz OFFICIAL PUBLICATION Statement of Resources and Liabilities of the WILM E·TTE Ll FE January 24, 1930 Public Forum First National Bank of Wilmette, Illinois, at the close of business on the 31st day of December 1929, as shown by the annual report made by the said bank as a trust company, to the Auditor of Public Accounts of the State of Illinois, pursuant to law, and filed in the office · of the said Auditor of Public Accounts on the 31st day of December, 1929. Editor. \Vn,METTE LIFE: During the past year or so. a go~d many articles have been wntten m newspap~rs and. remarks made hy ~peakers at public meetings about ~he rf'-assessment of real estate now gomg on. Different bodies of public officials have been accused, and have accused each oth er as being responsible for delaying the re-asses sment and . finishing same and today, after almost two years, thl.! end. is not in sight as yet. The order for the re-assessment has uot been a surprise to a good many who were acquainted with conditioas, and I for one agree and acknowledge that a r~ - asse s sm e nt was absolutely nece ssary. The tax-fixer, greed of. in djviduals. and politics were responslble for conditions. It has been asserted and the public was led to believe that assessing d:me !teretofor ~ was done mostly by guesswork. 1'-~othing is farther from the truth. 'fhe Board of Asse ssors had a ~rained corp s of men who were acquainted with real estate, legal descriptions and the building line and who worked under the supervision of a trained expert, himself a practical contractor and builder and appraiser. All new buildings were figured by cubic fo)t contents and at a certain rate. according to construction. Tn buildings of older construction, age, condition and location were always consid.ered. Land assessments were determined by values established bv the Real Estate board in their Blue Book and by consultation with real es'tate dealers. This system was simple, workable and not expensive, although open to a good many suggestions ior improvement, but considering the time allowed by statute and the means furnished. it was the best that could be I devised under the circumstances. may not be very far out of the \Vay \vhen I state that the sum appropriated for any quadrennial assessm~nt h? s been not over $300,000, while yearly assessments received far less than $200,000. The finished hooks were always in the hands of the Board of Review in September for final hearing of complaints in any year. The re-assessment was ordered by Mr. Malone as chairman of the St . 1tc Tax commission in the early part of 1928. Suits pending in the courts d.e iayed actual work until October, 1928, when a firm of valuation experts was engaged and began to revise the system, using up three or four months, Enally throwing up the job. The Board of Assessors then appointed Mr. Cutmore to take complete charge of the re-assessment, who surrounded himself with a large corps of valuation RESOURCES Loans on Real Estate ....................... $. Loans on Collateral Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other Loans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overdrafts ......................... . ....... . U. S. Government Investments .......... . ... . Other Bonds and Stocks .................... . Banking House, Furniture and Fixtures Due from Banks, Cash and Other Cash Resources ............................. . Other Resources ....... ... .......... ... .. . . . 314,400.00 425,768.57 314,103.47 676.67 156,996.22 407,936.89 59,458.31 494,109.82 28,704.41 and other experts. I do not question the hone~ty or the ability of these men as commercial appraisers, but my contentions are that the system now in use and devised under rules of the State Tax commission, is top-heavy, too cumbersome and unworkable, 1.nd too expensive, and rather delaymg than expediting the work of the reassessment. Different classes of real estate should be treated on a differ ~ nt basis, and rules applying to income property, such as flats, apartments ?r office buildings, should not be uscJ 111 determining the residence or farm property valuations. The actual money appropriated to date not counting interest on mon ey loan~d bv taxing bodies, has been in the neighborhood of $1,500,000. Origmatly the total cost was estimated at about $800,000, and time to finish, ah,)ut ~ ix months. This money having been used up, bankers subscribed around $200,000 and another two months were added to the original estimate. Later on the County board appropriated at different times about $450,000 more under the impression and. promi se that no more requests for money would be made, · but the work is not nearly ftnished and indications are that it wilt drag along until well into the summer. Another reason for delay in the \\·ork has been the fact that the State Tax commission declared the 1927 re assessment as being illegal. instead of J·roviding for ·an equalization of samewhich could have been made in about three months' time-and making a tax lrvy against the equalized figure s, in the meantime working on a new assessment. Under this plan taxes would have been collected as usual in the spri;g of 1929. While the order for the re -asse ssment is undoubtedly legal, some of the methods employed by the staff are in my opinion not legal, as far as New Trier to\\ nship is concerned. The local assessor in townships outside Chicago is the legal deputy to make the assessment, and any deputies needed by him to complete the work must be nominated by the Township Board of Auditors and appointed upon such nomination by the Board of Assessors, only. As a member of the Board of Auditors of New Trier township, I wish state that no nominations were made hy the board and that the deputies appointed by the Board of Assessors who were making the re-assessment in New Trier, did so without legal authority. The Board of Assessors also ignored at first our local assessor, Major George R. Harbaugh, refusing to turn o~er the books to him, which he demanded, (Continued on page 13) Total Resources .... . ........ .. ...... $2,202,154.36 LIABILITIES Capital Stock ............................... $ 150,000.00 Surplus .................................... . 50,000.00 Undivided Profits (Net) .................... . 17,871.84 Time Deposits ............................. . 624,020.02 Demand Deposits .............. . .. . ........ . 1,230.202.69 Dividends Unpaid .......................... . 3,000.00 Reserve Accounts .......................... . 16,527.95 Other Liabilities ........................... . 110,531.86 Total Liabilities ..................... $2,202,154.36 Par value of securities deposited with Auditor of Public Acounts, Springfield, Illinois, as required by law. to secure Trust Deposits $ County of Cook { State of Illinois ss. Dan C. Stiles, one of the managing officers, and Robert Stoddard and E. B. Knudtson two of the directors of the First National Bank of Wilmette,· a corporation of the State of IJlinois, being sev~ratly duly sworn, each upon his oath states: That he makes this affidavit for the purpose of complying with the requirements of Sections 9 and 10 of an Act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, entitled "An Act to Provide for and Regulate the Administration of Trusts, by Trust Companies." That the foregoing statement of the said officer and directors on December 31st, 1929, is true and correct in all respects to the best of his knowledge and belief, and that he has examined the assets and books of the said company for the purpose of making said statement. ROBERT STODDARD E. B. KNUDTSON DAN G. STILES Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 9th day of January, 1930. (SEAL) Form 219. KATHERINE D. LEAL Notary Public to 53,000.00 SPECIAL Eugene, Realistic and Keen Waves lnel·dlng Trim, Shampoo, Fhlger Wave $5.50 MJ::~a.!::~k This is the last week at this price Realistic waves. (Insist names ori every wrapper.) Halre·tUng b7 lohn Goldring We glve the genuine Eugene and on HaJr Dyeing A Speelalty these 75c $4.()(} UP Evanston Beauty Shop 615 DAVIS ST., EVANSTON University 0967 3rd Floor A boTe Lyon A Healy's