ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 55 
as the bonds are serial in character. The principal and interest are 
to be paid out of the tax levied especially for that purpose. This 
tax is assessed against all of the property in the county, including 
incorporated fillses. 
During the year 1911 the county issued $33,000 of bonds with 
which to pay the county’s share of the cost of county highways, 
amounting to 20 per cent of the total cost, thus making the total 
bond issues $533,000. 
In order to meet the interest charges and take up the bonds as 
they mature, the average annual outlay, covering the 50-year period 
from 1912 to 1961, inclusive, will be $21,735. The county will then 
have paid out a total of $1,068,500, of which $500,000 is the original 
principal and $568,500 the total interest charges. If the sinking- 
fund plan had been adopted instead of the deferred serial method, 
and 3 per cent could have been realized on the sinking fund, the 
average annual outlay for interest and sinking fund would have 
been $27,432.74, or a total for the 50-year period of $1,371,637, 
thus showing a total saving by the adopted plan of $285,137 over the 
sinking-fund plan. It is probable that the county would have found 
it more economical, however, to begin payments the fifth year 
instead of the tenth year, and to distribute the payments over 25 
years instead of 50 years, as the life of the bonds would then more 
nearly approximate the duration of the improvements. Under such 
plan the average annual outlay would have amounted to $34,660, or 
a total for the 25-year period of $866,500. The average annual pay- 
ments would have been $12,936 more than under the plan adopted, 
but the total amount paid out would have been $220,000 less than 
under the plan adopted, and the roads would have been paid for by 
the generation which receives the greatest benefit from them. To 
raise the $21,730, which will be the average amount required for 
interest and principal under the plan adopted, will require an annual 
levy of 1.72 mills on each dollar of the 1915 valuation, but if the 
bonds had been paid for by the 5-25 year serial plan the rate would 
have been 2.74 mills on the dollar. Furthermore, the 1.72 mills, or 
its equivalent, must be levied for 50 years, whereas the 2.74 mills 
would have been levied only 25 years. All highway taxes are levied 
- of town valuations, and the rates vary in each on account of the 
variation in assessed values. In 1911 the rate varied from 4.95 
mills to 19.1 mills, an average for the whole county of 8.37 mills. 
In 1913 the rates ood from 4.26 mills to 16.49 mills, an average 
of 9.39 mills. 
ASSESSED VALUATION. 
The equalized assessed valuation of property subject to taxation 
for road purposes in 1910, not including bank stocks, was $12,338,080, 
and in 1915, $13,201,055. The assessed value of real estate in 1910 
