WT NANIMOUS approval for con- 

 ■ tinued state aid grants for farm 

 I roads was expressed by the 500 

 I J farmers attending the property tax- 

 ation and farm-to-highway roads 

 conference held during the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association convention in St. 

 Louis. 



Farmers at the meeting agreed on the 

 need for a long-range continuous pro- 

 gram for farm road financed in part by 

 state money. It was pointed out that 

 local property taxes at present finance 75 

 per cent of the road mileage in the 

 state's farm-to-highway road system. 



These sentiments were confirmed dur- 

 ing the meeting by an informal vote tak- 

 en by Charles Mayfield, lAA director of 

 road improvement. 



'Study All Systems' 



Addressing the group briefly Mayfield 

 said: "Farmers are demanding that Il- 

 linois should have a long-range program 

 of highway development consistent with 

 and measured by the taxpayers" willing- 

 ness and ability to pay. However, we 

 cannot hope to reach the ideal in road 

 development over night because tax and 

 revenue resources are not limitless." 



C. J. Elliot, lAA director from Strea- 

 tor who presided at the conference, said 

 that he felt the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation should study all the road sys- 

 tems in the state and make recommenda- 

 tions for farm-to-market roads that would 

 be consistent with fair support of the 

 state hard road and county systems. 



It was suggested during the meeting 

 that if the federal government would 

 remove its one and one-half cent tax on 

 every gallon of gasoline and withdraw 

 from the field of taxing motor fuels, Illi- 

 nois could take over that portion of the 

 tax and put it in a form of revenue for 

 rural roads. 



It was also pointed out that many of 

 the more than 1600 road districts could 

 profitably combine and thus offer better 

 road service to the people living on rural 

 roads. 



Some farmers during the conference 



stated that the main trouble in their road 

 districts was that the road commissioner 

 did not have enough 

 money to spend. 

 Others said that he 

 had enough, but that 

 he did not spend it 

 wisely. Still others 

 said that their road 

 commissioner was 

 not a road man and 

 could never give sat- 

 isfaction regardless 

 of money or other 

 conditions. 



C. J. Elliott 



In discussing the new tax legislation 

 passed during the 1947 session of the 

 Illinois General Assembly Bert Vander- 

 vliet, lAA director of property taxation, 

 said that where local governing bodies 

 in rural Illinois levied maximum amounts 

 in 1946, under the Butler tax laws, or 

 when maximum amounts were levied in 

 1947 prior to July 22, tax bills payable 

 in 1948 may exceed those paid in 1947. 



In other communities 1947 taxes will 



be materially reduced, he said, depend- 

 ing upon the amount of the 1947 tax 

 levies, the time the levies were adopted, 

 and variable trends in real estate values 

 between counties. 



At the conference several farmers ex- 

 pressed concern over the possibility of 

 losing home rule as school districts and 

 road districts become larger through re- 

 organization. 



"The principle of home rule is beyond 

 argument," Vandervliet said. "But you 

 have home rule only when it is exercised 

 by the voters. Few citizens attend the 

 annual town meeting. Few attend pub- 

 lic hearings on local budgets. 



"As a matter of fact there is reason 

 to believe that home rule may be greatly 

 implemented and strengthened by reduc- 

 ing the number of local governments. 



Uniform Assessments 



It might make it easier for citizens to 

 exercise direct control of their local gov- 

 ernment." 



Vandervliet said that the tax legisla- 

 tion passed during the 1945 Illinois Gen- 

 eral Assembly had done a great deal to- 

 ward securing uniform assessments be- 

 tv^'een counties, but that it had not in any 

 manner contributed to leveling out as- 

 sessments within the individual county. 



Turning to the field of taxes in gen- 

 eral Vandervliet said: "There is every 

 reason to believe that the cost of our 

 state and local governments will con- 

 tinue to rise. 



"Often our attention is directed to fed- 

 eral affairs and we do not give enough 

 thought to our taxes at home," he con- 

 cluded. 



Illinois delegates to the Notional 4-H Club Congress In Chicago in December were. Front 

 row, left to right: iarbara Heath, Gallatin county; Lawrence A. Gregory, DuPage; Dorothy 

 Giese, LoSalie; Robert W. Builta, McLean; Evelyn Love, Macoupin; Alfred OeCop, Whiteside; 

 Doris Chelin, Bureau; Robert Undqulst, Henry; Evelyn Mollet, Bond; William Worthington, 

 Livingston. Second row: Harley Harris, local leader, Pulaski; Bernadine Lambert, Mor- 

 gan; Ronald Hock, Will; Marion Rueter, Scott; Kenneth Cook, DeKalb; Carleen Oensch, 

 Saline; William McDonald, Winnebago; Miss Anna Searl, state 4-H office; F. H. Mynard, 

 state 4-H office. Third row: Cletus Schertz, Woodford; Pauline McMillan, Sangamon; 

 Hobart HInderllter, Fulton; Martha Klepfer, Stark; James Butler, Kankakee; Margaret Yano, 

 Ford; Alvln R. Henninger, Boone; Sue Holcott, LoSolle; Bill Simon, Bureau; Mary Tracy, 

 Jersey; and William R. Hobson, Greene. 





•n 



I. A. A. RECORD 



