14 BULLETIN 393;, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



about $9,500 was needed for interest, leaving about $6,360, plus 

 interest obtained on sinking fund, to apply on the principal. From 

 this sum $4,000 of the bonds were retired by 1915, and after the 

 1915 levy was obtained, which yielded $4,838, a further $2,500 of 

 bonds were retired. 



WhUe more than ample provision was made for rapidly paying off 

 the bonds, no steps were taken in either district properly to maintam 

 the roads after the completion of the system. It was soon found that 

 if the roads were to be prevented from going to destruction and the 

 investment thus dissipated, it was necessary that funds be provided 

 for mamtenance. As the tax rates were abeady high, the situation 

 was met by the estabhshment of toll gates. The operation of the 

 toll system, described elsewhere in this chapter, produced an amount 

 equivalent to that which would be obtained by a tax levy of 31 cents 

 on the hundred dollars of the 1915 assessed valuation, if levied against 

 the whole county, or 50 cents if levied against Courtland and Chancel- 

 lor districts alone. After deducting that portion of the toU fimds 

 which was apphed to new construction, the funds actually apphed 

 to maintenance were still sufficient in amount to be equivalent to a 

 sum which could be raised by a tax rate of 17.4 cents on the hundred- 

 dollar valuation, for the whole county, or 28.1 cents for these two 

 districts alone. Possibly a lower rate for the bond retirement and 

 the apphcation of the saving thus made to the maintenance of the 

 roads might have been desirable rather than the estabhshment of 

 the toll system, but the existence of other factors, however, bearing 

 upon the subject of toUs in Spotsylvania County comphcate the 

 question so that it can be dealt with by the local community only as a 

 special problem. 



OTHER DISTRICTS VOTE BONDS. 



Stirred by the example of Courtland and Chancellor districts, the 

 two other districts in the county, namely, Berkley and Livingston, 

 voted $40,000 and $33,000 respectively m 1913. 



COUNTY VALUATIONS AND REVENUES SHOW LARGE INCREASE. 



In 1910 the tax rates for aU purposes, including State tax of 35 

 cents, were respectively, $1.35 for Courtland, $1.40 for Chancellor, 

 $1 for Livingston, and $1.05 for Berkley, or an average of $1.20 for 

 the county, with a total revenue production of $31,571. The rates 

 had increased in 1915 to $1,70 m Courtland, $1.75 in Chancellor, 

 $1.45 in Livingston, and $1.90 in Berkley, or an average of $1.70, 

 with a total revenue produced of approximately $59,100. It is 

 interesting to note, therefore, that while the tax rate increased 41.6 

 per cent in the period from 1910 to 1915, the revenue increased 87.2 

 per cent. This is due to the very large increase in the assessed valua- 

 tion of property since the road-building program was begun, and 



