PART III. IMPORTANT LOCAL FUNCTIONS AND 

 THEIR STATE-LOCAL RELATIONSHIPS 



A pronounced relationship exists between the state and its sub- 

 divisions for administering and coordinating the business of govern- 

 ment. This relationship extends to nearly all public services. It has 

 been shown in a previous section, for example, that, although the 

 administration of the property tax is a function of the town, the state 

 tax commission has general supervision over the tax laws of the state. 

 The commission requires annual reports of local tax officials, it can 

 discharge local tax collectors, and it can cause reassessments to be 

 made. Many such important relationships exist in other fields of 

 public service. To ex]:)lain the more important functions of local 

 units of government without reference to these state-local relation- 

 ships would be incomplete and would only result in confusion. It 

 is the purpose of this section, therefore, to select the more important 

 functions of local government and attempt to explain how each is ad- 

 ministered in the light of these state-local relationships. 



These local functions are concerned with highwavs, education, 

 public welfare, public health, and law enforcement. Other important 

 local services, such as assessment of property and collection of taxes, 

 have been adequately treated in a previous section. 



HIGHWAYS 



Like other states in the northeast. New Hampshire early resorted 

 to the policy of chartering private corporations to construct turn- 

 pikes and of permitting them to exact a toll. This procedure was par- 

 ticularly prevalent in the early part of the nineteenth century. The 

 plan was somewhat disapT)ointing to investors and proved inadef|uate 

 for the needs of the public. Free public roads developed, but there 

 was no unified state control over the state system until 1903 when 

 the legislature authorized the governor and his council to appoint 

 highway and civil engineers. At the following session of the legisla- 

 ture, in 1905, an act was passed which more fully defined the hio-hwav 

 relationships between state and local agencies. It was not until 1915. 

 however, that the legislature abolished the office of state highwav 

 engineer and established a state highway department under the ad- 

 ministrative control of the hiehway commissioner who was to be ap- 

 pointed by the governor and his council. The department was created 

 for the purpose of laying out. constructing, and maintaining highways 

 developed whollv or in part by the use of state funds, ^o 



The commissioner of hiehways was not granted nower over 1ora1 

 officials equal to those denartments in char^-e of education and tax 

 administration. Even thoup-h some state aid is extended to towns 

 from state hiehwav funds for the maintenance of town roads, the 

 commissioner is not authorized to supervise the expenditure of those 



^ Much of this historical discussion is a summary of "History of the State Hisihway Svstem" 

 by Commissioner F. E. Everett, 1939. 



