152 STATION BULLETIN 346 



Table 9. The Relation of Assessed Valuation per Town to the Distribution 

 OF Town Expenses 



be adopted as standards of efficiency. In the first place, it is not likely 

 that averages represent an economical use of funds, and, secondly, 

 efficiency is not determined entirely on the basis of population or tax- 

 able wealth, or both. The determination of efficient local government 

 involves numerous intricacies not applicable to general terms, and the 

 problem requires individual analysis of each situation — an acquaint- 

 ance with the environment, and an interview with local officials as 

 well as an analysis of fiscal reports. However, some insight into the 

 distribution of expenses according to population and taxable wealth 

 is presented here in order to indicate normals and to show the relative 

 importance of the various expense items for small and large towns. 

 In general, the distribution of expenses is about the same when the 

 towns are sorted by population as they are when sorted by taxable 

 wealth. 



The maintenance and construction of roads constitutes 46 per- 

 cent of the total expenses of the 100 rural towns. The smallest towns, 

 those of less than 400 population and of less than $400,000 of assessed 

 valuation, use more than one-half of their money for roads while the 

 group of largest towns spends less than two-fifths of its funds for this 



