ROAD MILEAGE^ EEVENUES^, SOUTHERN STATES, 1914. 47 



COUNTY AND DISTRICT ORGANIZATIONS. 



In the majority of the counties of the State the road work is done 

 directly under the board of supervisors, elected by the people, one 

 from each district. The number of districts in a county vary from 

 three to nine. The supervisor of a district generally looks after the 

 road and bridge work of his particular district. In some instances, 

 however, the counties have special laws creating county road boards. 

 These boards take over the road authority which the general law vests 

 in the board of supervisors, and appoint either a county road superin- 

 tendent or district road superintendent to supervise the construction 

 of the roads and the bridges of the county as a whole, or of the indi- 

 vidual district. 



Another plan followed in some of the counties under special law is 

 the formation of district road boards. These have control of the con- 

 struction and maintenance of the roads in the several districts of the 

 counties. These boards usually are composed of three citizens, as fol- 

 lows: A duly elected member of the board of supervisors, who acts as 

 chairman ; a road commissioner, and a clerk. The road commissioner 

 takes the place of the district superintendent and has actual charge 

 of the road force. 



The board of supervisors of the county lays all levies for road and 

 bridge purposes for both the county and the districts. These amounts, 

 as collected by the treasurer, are credited either to the general county 

 road or bridge fund, or to the district road or the district bridge fund, 

 and can be expended only for purposes for which they were collected. 

 From these funds the county takes the money with which to meet the 

 State money aid or to supply the teams, tools, etc., to be used in con- 

 nection with the convict labor. 



In addition to the regular levy, the counties or districts are allowed 

 to vote bonds for road and bridge improvement. These funds must 

 be expended under the supervision of an engineer designated by the 

 State highway department. The funds derived from general county 

 or district levies remaining in the county or the district road and 

 bridge fund, after setting aside the amount to mee"t the State money or 

 convict aid, are used for the maintenance and upkeep of the road. 



The information contained in these reports has been obtained by 

 letters to the various county clerks and treasurers, supplemented by 

 visits of the men connected with the State highway department to 

 these counties, who got the information from members of the boards 

 of supervisors, members of the county road boards and district road 

 boards. The tables are checked finally by members of the depart- 

 ment with reports of the county treasurers to the auditor of public 

 accounts of the State. Much difficulty has been experienced, how- 

 ever, in getting accurate information as to the amount of money 

 derived from road and bridge taxes on account of the change in the 



