LAND UTILIZATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE 



43 



Fig. 12. Potential Summer Home 

 Long-abandoned buildings have been salvaged from the brink of collapse 

 and converted into comfortable vacation homes. 



In Francestown and Tuftonboro, the property tax base rose appre- 

 ciably between 1929 and 1939. The new subdivision, construction, and 

 improvements by summer residents more than offset the losses due to 

 timber cutting and decreased numbers of livestock and farm machinery. 

 In Sanbornton, however, the more modest improvements and construc- 

 tion by summer residents did not offset the losses due to decreased tim- 

 ber, livestock, and machinery, so the tax base declined 15 per cent. In 

 view of the general decline of agricultural production and population 

 throughout rural areas in New Hampshire that are little touched by sum- 

 mer residents, and considering the extent of salvaging of abandoned or 

 near-abandoned properties for recreational use, it seems likely that the 

 tax bases of all three towns would have shrunk drastically during the 

 period, except for the bolstering influence of the summer properties. 



Services 



Expenditures for roads, schools, -county taxes, and debt payments 

 comprised 85 per cent of the expenditures of each of the three towns in 

 1939 (Table 19). The costs of local governmental services have not been 

 increased greatly as a result of the demands of summer residents. The in- 

 creased tax base resulting from recreational development has enabled 

 rural towns to maintain a more favorable tax rate and a higher quality 

 of public services for all residents than otherwise would have been pos- 

 sible. The 1939 tax rates in Francestown and Tuftonboro were below 

 the average for the State, and in Sanbornton were only slightly higher. 11 

 Assessed values compared favorably with those of other towns. Roads, 



14 The 1929 tax rates per $100 of assessed valuation were: Sanbornton, $3.54; the State, $3.45; 

 Francestown, $3.30; Tuftonboro, $2.50. 



