The City Assessor's Department was responsible for raising the funds necessary for basic municipal services through the collection of taxes. The department assessed the value of businesses, land, real estate, and local improvements, maintained the records of tax assessments and payments for individual properties, and initiated action to collect overdue taxes.
This series contains records related to the assessment and collection of various municipal taxes. Aside from property taxes, the City also collected a service tax (essentially a municipal income tax), and a business tax, which was calculated as a percentage of the rental cost of certain business' commercial space or offices. When property taxes went into arrears, the City had the option of buying the property from the owner, or auctioning them off to collect taxes owed through tax sales.
An order has been imposed on the material. It includes the following four sub-series:
- Subseries 1 - Property Tax Records
- Subseries 2 - Business Tax Records
- Subseries 3 - Service Tax Records
- Subseries 4 - Arrears and Tax Sales
