virtually all urban districts appeared within the narrow range of $3,321 

 and $5,474 valuation per capita. Consequently, the 16 urban districts 

 (those having a total equalized valuation of more than $25 million) 

 were deducted, leaving 195 non-urban districts for inclusion in tabula- 

 tions. 



In general, the number of resident elementary and secondary pupils 

 — and the population — decline as the amount of equalized valuation 

 per capita increases (Table 4). It is also noticeable that costs per pupil 

 tend to be higher among districts having a large amount of equalized 

 valuation per capita. The 31 districts having an equalized valuation per 

 capita of $8,000 or more are very sparsely populated communities. 

 Fourteen of these 31 towns actually declined in population from 1950 to 

 1960. There are only three high schools maintained among the 31 dis- 

 tricts and none of these had a high school ADM of more than 66 pupils 

 in 1960-61. Much of the property in sparsely populated rural communi- 

 ties having a high equalized valuation per capita of $10,000 or more is 

 owned by non-residents. 



In 1957 the Planning and Development Commission made a survey 

 of all town properties. The published report provides a classification of 

 taxable properties using assessed valuations. The classes and percentage 

 distribution of these properties for the 13 districts having a taxable 

 wealth per capita of $10,000 or more is shown in Table 5 with a com- 

 parison for the state as a whole. 



For these 13 towns "recreational" and "electric plant" properties 

 together comprise 70.4 percent of the total assessed valuation, whereas, 

 for the state as a whole, only 21.8 percent of the total appear in these 

 two categories. Farms and manufacturing establishments in the 13 dis- 



Table 5. The Distribution of Five Classes of Property for 13 Towns 



Having an Equalized Valuation Per Capita of $10,000 or More, 



Compared With State Totals 



* This class of property existed in only seven of the 13 towns, and 90 percent of 

 the total is concentrated in one town. 



