92 STATION BULLETIN 346 



The following cases serve to illustrate the results of such a pro- 

 cedure : 



Amount per $1,000 of 

 equalized valuation 



District A District B 



Current elementary costs levied locally $5.39 $6.03 



State aid 4.59 1.34 



Total elementary costs $9.98 ^7.37 



District B had local elementary costs amounting- to $6.03 per 

 $1,000 of equalized valuation, compared with $5.39 for District A, but 

 the amount of state aid received by District A was more than three 

 times that received by District B. 



PUBLIC WELFARE 



Care of the town poor has always been, and continues to be, a 

 local responsibility under the supervision of the overseer of the poor, 

 a town official. The only requirement for direct relief is actual need. 

 Liability for the expense of such relief, however, is determined by 

 "settlement." "Any person of the age of twenty-one years who shall 

 have had his domicile in any town in this state for five consecutive 

 years shall thereby gain a settlement in such town." ^^ According to 

 a statement by the commissioner of public welfare, this section of the 

 law must be qualified to the extent that to gain a settlement the per- 

 son must have had his domicile in a town for five consecutive self- 

 sup]iorting years. Self-supporting ineans without public aid except 

 for the receipt of old-age assistance, blind aid, or aid to dependent 

 children. 



Settlement in any town is lost by an absence of five years or by 

 having gained settlement elsewhere. Furthermore, settlement is lost 

 after having received relief for five consecutive years when the coun- 

 ty assumes the financial responsibility for assistance as "out-of-set- 

 tlement relief." Out-of-settlement relief may be paid in the first in- 

 stance by the town as "support of county poor," for which the town 

 is later reimbursed by the county. Money collected locally and paid 

 over to the county in the form of "county taxes" is largely for wel- 

 fare purposes, and it is these taxes which constitute the major source 

 of county revenue. Much of the welfare activities of the county rep- 

 resents that which was transferred from the town as a result of elimi- 

 nating town almshouses and local jails in the interest of economy and 

 efficiency. 6° Each county farm is now organized to include the house 

 of correction, hospital, and the county jail in most cases. Settlement 

 cases at the county farm are charged back to the towns until settle- 

 ment is lost. 



For the fiscal year ended January 31, 1940, public welfare ex- 

 penditures of all towns and cities amounted to more than 1.6 million 



™ Revised Laws, 1941, Chapter 12.3, Section 1. 

 «> Brookings Institution Report, 1932. 



