June 1942] Agricultural Experiment Station 13 



number of fortuitous circumstances. For example, one town may 

 levy an unusually heavy road tax in order to give its citizens superior 

 road services. On the other hand, its neighboring- town may prefer 

 to struggle along with totally inadequate roads in order to keep its 

 tax rate to a minimum. Such variables as the caliber of town road 

 management, topography, road beds, drainage, road e([uipment, 

 amount of snowfall, and so on necessitate higher taxes for town road 

 construction and maintenance in some towns than in others. 



When, however, the road tax rate of each of the towns is examined 

 in light of the town's assessed valuation per mile of Class V road, the 

 chief underlying cause for this variation in road tax rates becomes 

 evident. (See Table 4.) The 29 towns with a valuation of less than 

 $10,000 per mile of Class V road had an average town road tax rate 

 in 1940 of $1.48 on the $100 valuation." The 60 towns with a valua- 

 tion of from $10,000 to $20,000 per mile had an average 1940 road tax 

 rate of 94 cents on the $100 vakiation. On the other extreme, towns 

 with a valuation per mile of $100,000 to $200,000 and towns with over 

 a $200,000 valuation per mile had average tax rates of 39 and 27 cents 

 respectively on the $100 of assessed valuation. In general, the con- 

 clusion is justified that, in spite of added assistance given the low 

 valuation towns under the Dimcan aid in 1940, the town road tax rate 

 showed a definite tendency to decrease as the town's assessed valua- 

 tion per mile of Class V road increased. The 29 towns with an assess- 

 ed valuation of less than $10,000 per mile and the 60 towns with as- 

 sessed valuations between $10,000 and $20,000 per mile (with an aver- 

 age road tax rate of $1.48 and 94 cents respectively) bore a dispro- 

 portionately heavy tax burden in support of their Class V roads. 

 Clearly the "Duncan aid" formula used in 1940 had failed even to 

 approximate equalizing the road tax burdens of the 204 towns. 



Table 3. Frequency Distribution by To\vn.s According to Town Road Tax Rate 

 Cents per $100 assessed vahiation Number of towns 



Under 25 cents 9 



25 - 49 33 



50 - 74 60 



75-99 ^ 50 



100 - 124 21 



125-149 13 



150-174 9 



175-199 4 



Over 200 cents 5 



204 



Note: — 



Total town expenditures on Class V roads for fiscal year ended January 31st, 1940. is divided 

 by total assessed valuation. 



Town expenditures on Class V roads include (1) town's contribution to TRA allotment, 

 (2) town maintenance, (3) general expense, (4) town construction. 



Not included is capital outlay for new equipment or town's share of cooperative construction 

 with the State on Class II roads. 



Not included in above table are 25 towns or cities having Class IV compact streets and five 

 towns having less than one mile of Class V road. 



Information on town expenditures taken from 1940 Rei)ort of State Tax Commission. 



^^ In the interest of readability, the term "valuation per mile of Class V road" will be abbreviated 

 to read "valuation per mile." 



