ECONOMIC STJBVEYS OF COUKTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 63 



call. If the bonds are retired on a straight sinking-fund basis and 

 it is assumed that 3 per cent is realized from the sinking fund, the 

 annual amount necessary to be raised would be S7,356 for sinking fund 

 and.S17;500 for interest, or a total average annual outlay of 824,856, 

 and the total cost to the county for principal and interest vv^ould be 

 S745,700. If 4 per cent is realized on the sinking fund the annual 

 amount necessary to be raised would be S6,240 for sinlving fund and 

 $17,500 for interest, a total average annual cost for principal and 

 interest of $23,740, or a grand total for the 30-year period of $712,200. 

 Contrasted with this method, it may be pointed out that if the bonds 

 were issued on a 5-30 year deferred serial method the annual cost 

 would be $22,166 and the total cost $665,000, or a saving as compared 

 with the sinking-fund method of $80,702 where only 3 per cent is 

 realized on the sinking fund, or $47,216 if 4 per cent is reahzed. It 

 therefore follows that if the commissioners take up the bonds only 

 as they find it practicable, the relative economy as compared with the 

 other two methods can not be determined until it is known what 

 success they meet with in redeeming the bonds. The deferred serial 

 method would have been free from this element of uncertainty, and 

 the necessary tax rate could have been ascertained definitely. 



There is no special tax levy to provide funds for the road bonds, 

 as all the payments for interest and sinking fund are taken from the 

 general county levy. In 1910 the general levy for county purposes 

 was 5 mills on the dollar, in addition to which there was a levy of 2 

 mills for bridges and 6.5 mills for State purposes, or a total of 13.5 

 mills. In 1915 the tax rate had increased to 7 mills for county pur- 

 poses, the bridge tax had decreased to 0.5 mill, and the State tax 

 remained at 6.5 mills, making a total of 14 mills, or an increase over 

 the 1910 rate of only 0.5 mill. There is also a statute labor or head tax 

 of 10 days, which may be paid in cash at the rate of 50 cents per day. 

 The poll tax, from which $1,519 was derived in 1915, is applied to 

 schools. Just what the tax burden for the road bonds should be 

 under the various possible plans may be indicat-ed as follows: The 

 assessed valuation for 1915 was $14,068,610. It would therefore be 

 necessary to levy on such a valuation a rate of 1.76 mills on the dollar 

 to produce the $24,856 annually to retire the bonds on the 3 per cent 

 sinking-fund plan, or 1.68 mills to provide the $23,740 annually 

 necessary if 4 per cent is obtained on the sinking fund. If the 5-30 

 year serial method had been adopted, the $22,166 annually required 

 would be obtained by a levy of 1.56 mills on the dollar on the basis 

 of the 1915 valuation. Therefore the construction of the improved 

 roads under the bond issue represents an annual outlay constituting 

 about 12.6 per cent of the total -tax burden of the county. This 

 should not prove oppressive, as it is probable that property values 

 will increase and that the rate will correspondingly decrease. Even 



