June 1942] Agricultural Experiment Station 15 



aid" formula there is any relationship between a town's assessed 

 valuation per mile of Class V road and its expenditure per mile, let us 

 assume: (1) that each town sets the same road tax rate in 1941 as in 

 1940; (2) that this rate produces the same revenues as in 1940; and 

 (3) that all available State subsidies (TRA and "New Duncan aid") 

 are added to the road revenues raised by the town. Then let us cor- 

 relate each town's resulting total expenditures per mile with the 

 town's assessed valuation per mile. It is immediately seen that, 

 despite the additional aid afforded low valuation towns by the new 

 Duncan aid formula, the expenditure per mile of road definitely in- 

 creased with the assessed valuation per mile of Class V roads. (See 

 Table 5.) Even if the towns with an assessed valuation of less than 

 $20,000 per mile continue to tax themselves at the disproportionately 

 high 1940 rates, they would still have considerably less money avail- 

 able in 1941 for improving and maintaining each mile of their Class V 

 road than towns with higher valuations. 



Table 5. Estimated Total Expenditure per Mile of Class V Roads Related 

 TO Towns'. Assessed Valuation per Mile 



cT) ] ~~~~"~ 



Dollars of 

 assessed valuation 

 per mile Class V 



U - 19,999 

 20.UU0 - 39,999 

 40,000 - 59,999 

 60,000 - 79,999 

 80,000 - 99,999 

 100,000 and over 



Note: — 



Column (2) is arrived at by adding the total 1940 town expenditure per mile to the total 

 available State subsidy per mile in 1941 (under new Duncan aid) for each of the 204 towns and 

 averaging the expenditure for each valuation group. 



Towns' total expenditure on Class V Roads from Thirtieth Annual Report of N. H. State Tax 

 Commission for 1940. 



Towns' total available subsidy (under New Duncan Aid) from records compiled by N. H. 

 State Highway Department. 



It is not possible to evaluate here the actual benefit that each 

 town derives in road services from each dollar spent on its roads. 

 Certainl}^ wide variation in road management, topography, road 

 ec^uipment, and many other factors would enable town A to provide 

 better road services for an expenditure of $250 per mile than town B 

 could provide for an expenditure of $300 per mile. It is not reason- 

 able, however, to assume that the 89 towns with an assessed valuation 

 of less than $20,000 are so favorably situated in regard to road manage- 

 ment, topography, equipment and so on, that they can secure with an 

 average annual expenditure of $210 per mile road services comparable 

 to those which higher valuation towns can obtain with an expenditure 

 of $450 per mile. Thus, the conclusion is justified that the citizen of 

 the "typical" tow^n with an assessed valuation of less than $20,000 per 

 mile of Class V road is comparativel}- at a disadvantage both as a 

 taxpayer and as a consumer of road services. 



