76 STATION BULLETIN 346 



ratio of valuation to population is as significant as the actual amount 

 of discrepancy, when determining- any relative benefits a town might 

 derive as economic gain in fiscal matters. 



Forty-six percent of the expenses of the 100 towns was for high- 

 ways and included money received from the state as state aid and 

 money paid to the state as the towns' share of joint funds. In towns 

 with a population of less than 400, 53.9 percent of the total expenses 

 was for roads, compared with only 36.4 percent for towns with a 

 population of 1,000 or more. Similarly, the expenses of general gov- 

 ernment declined in relative importance as population was increased. 

 On the contrary, the costs of all other groups of expenses increased in 

 percent of total expenses as population was increased. 



Thus, it is a normal situation when the residents of a small town 

 appropriate a small amount of money for public services. But it is 

 equally normal when the expenses and property taxes are high per 

 capita and when a relatively large proportion of the revenue is ex- 

 pended on roads, even though the amount spent per mile is relatively 

 little. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



The present section of this publication describes the practices and 

 the administrative controls for obtaining and spending public funds 

 by local units of government in New Hampshire. Those functions 

 concerned with the assessment of property for tax purposes, and the 

 lev}' and collection of taxes, are reviewed in considerable detail. A 

 more thorough review of the basic services of local government and 

 their state-local relationships are reserved for Part III. These basic 

 services include highways, education, public welfare, public health, 

 and law enforcement. The present section devotes some attention 

 to the efifects of selected factors on local expenditures, property taxes 

 and tax rates, and also to the interrelation between these factors. 



The appropriations and expenditures of local governmental units 

 have increased more rapidly than has population or taxable wealth. 

 Therefore, inasmuch as the property tax is. and has been, the major 

 source of revenue for local units of government, increased expendi- 

 tures are evidence of an increased burden upon the owners of taxable 

 property. The weighted average tax rate for all towns and cities in- 

 crea.sed from $1.65' per $100 in 1914 to an all-tinv hi<rh of $3.48 in 

 1938. Had the tobacco tax not been substituted for the state direct 

 tax, the trend would have continued through 1939. 



In recent years about three-fourths of the revenue for local imits 

 of government in New^ Hampshire has come from the property tax. 

 All of the subdivisions of the state (and the state itself until 1939) 

 receive revenue from the property tax which is administered bv offi- 

 cials of the town. In their respective meetings the voters of each 

 county, town, school district, and precinct appropriate money, which, 

 after deducting the estimated income from other sources, is obtained 

 from the property tax. It is the responsibility of town officials to ap- 

 praise the taxable property, and to levy and collect the property taxes 

 for all local units. All local units of government get the full amount 



