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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



Table 22. — Total municipal income 1941-44 in Quiroga 



Table 23. — Comparison of various municipios ■ 



• The figures represent rank (out of 102) for the various subjects and head- 

 ings listed. 



participacion, 34 to 59. The leaders (__) indicate 

 no income from mercados, diversiones, miscellane- 

 ous, and Federal participation. The mean income 

 per capita in the Municipio de Quiroga is $1.67, 

 as compared with $6.09 in Morelia and $0.47 in 

 Tzintzuntzan. 



We were unable to obtain a complete and 

 coherent picture of the municipal expenditures. 

 Regularly approved salaries totaled $1,115.64 a 

 month in 1945. This would amount to $13,387.68 

 a year. The 1945 montldy expenditures for 

 salaries and wages can be compared with the 1870 

 annual expenditure of $636, and $714 for the year 

 1880. Other expenses (gastos) are said to be 

 around $4,000 a year. However, the combined 

 expenses and salaries for 1944 amounted only to 

 $12,380.25. Probably salaries and wages do not 



run at the maximum allowable during many 

 months of the year. Some of the more important 

 items under gastos are: $1,000 or more for public 

 works (roads, bridges, water supply, etc.) , $720 

 for town lighting; $460 for "extraordinary" and 

 social expenses; $270 for feeding the municipal 

 mule (used by the municipal street cleaner and 

 carter); $190 for office supplies; $150 for installa- 

 tion of the new ayuntamiento ; $100 for patriotic 

 festivals; $50 to feed prisoners; and $30 for elec- 

 tion expenses. The enumerated items amount to 

 about $3,000, unless public works run higher than 

 $1,000. Total expenditures for salaries and ex- 

 penses may run between $900 and $1,250 a 

 month. This can be compared with monthly 

 figures of about $136 m 1872, $153 in 1874, $177 in 

 1875 (after Tzintzuntzan had been incorporated), 

 and $241 in 1880. Other comparative figures 

 include; income of $1,526.62 and expenditures of 

 $1,840.74 in 1868-69; income of $3,501.27 and 

 outgo of $3,235.57 m 1885-86 (in this fiscal year 

 Quiroga ranked 15th out of 75 municipalities in 

 income); and budgets of $5,076 in 1891-92, 

 $6,665.25 in 1895-96, $10,560 in 1943, and $10,900 

 in 1944. Considering the change in the purchas- 

 ing power of the peso since the 1880's (it now 

 takes $5 to $15, or an average of $9 to purchase 

 what $1 would buy of such commodities as corn, 

 wheat, and beans in the 1880's), municipal 

 government is cheaper now than it was some 50 to 

 70 years ago, both absolutely and per capita. 



MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONS 



For at least the past 80 years, commissions or 

 committees have existed to supervise and advise 

 on the principal branches of municipal business 

 and government. The membership varies from 

 one entirely composed of members of the ayunta- 

 miento to one entirely non-municipes. At present 

 there are 10 commissions, commonly composed of 

 a president and 3 other members or vocales. The 

 business of the various commissions is a good 

 index to the matters that most concern the active 

 citizens of Quiroga. Some commissions of the 

 past have ceased to exist because of changed con- 

 ditions; e. g., commissions on pawnshops, lodgings 

 (important when Quiroga was a great center for 

 arrieros and animal convoys), jails, and weights 

 and measures (very important before the metric 

 system became mandatory and common). Under 

 varying names all but one of the present commis- 



