LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION 



133 



with 30 or more persons per square mile. Protection and "other pub- 

 lic services" also constitute a larger proportion of total expenditures 

 for towns more densely populated than for towns with a sparse popu- 

 lation. Highways and general administration expenses tend to de- 

 crease in relative importance in towns with greater density of popu- 

 lation. Other factors vary within limits but show no consistent rela- 

 tionship. Changes in population and density of population are di- 

 rectly related to variations in welfare expenditures and expenditures 

 for debt service but do not tend to rise out of proportion to total ex- 

 penditures in these groups of rural towns. 



Assessed Valuation per Town 



In as much as changes in assessed valuation per town are closely 

 associated with changes in population per town, it follows that the 

 effect of these factors on the distribution of expenditures will be simi- 

 lar. Table 9 illustrates this, but, as is the case with density of popu- 

 lation, the changes are less consistent and somewhat less pronounced. 

 However, expenditures for education and for protection increase as 

 a percent of total expenditures with an increase in assessed valuation 

 per town. The proportion of expenditures for highways and general 

 administration responds inversely to an increase in taxable wealth. 

 In towns with greater than average taxable wealth debt service 



Table 9. Relation of Assessed Valuation per Town to the Amount and Dis- 

 tribution OF Expenditures 



