ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 8l 
purposes decreased 14 mills; the levy for outstanding road warrants, 
which was only 1 mill in 1905, had been eliminated in 1915; the levy 
for school indebtedness, which amounted to 3 mills in 1905, was 
absent in 1915; and the levy of 1 mill for ‘county ‘clerk’s office 
indebtedness in 1905 had been eliminated in 1915; so that these 
savings more than compensated for the increase due to the road 
bonds, and made it possible to increase the general levy for roads 
and bridges of 3 mills in 1905 to 5 mills in 1915, and to make a 34-mi 
levy in 1915 for county buildings. As compared with 1910, it will be 
noted that the tax rate for 1915 was one-half mill less and that in 
spite of this reduction the receipts from taxation increased 140 per 
cent. A further rather interesting comparison is shown by the fact 
that while in 1905 the roads required 25 per cent of the taxes, they 
required, including bond taxes in 1915, 33.2 per cent of the taxes. 
The road and bridge taxes and the road-bond taxes are levied on 
all property in the county, including incorporated cities, but one-half 
of all road and bridge taxes collected from cities are returned to them 
for the improvement of streets within corporate limits. In addition 
to the regular road tax there is a statute labor tax of 3 days or $3 
for all residents of rural districts who are non-freeholders. The 
amount of work accomplished and the receipts from this source, 
however, are inconsiderable. 
~On January 18, 1910, Englewood district voted $75,000 worth of 
road and bridge bonds, but they have not yet been issued. With 
this money 26 miles of road are to be graded and a portion of the 
road surfaced with sand-asphalt. 
On January 11, 1916, the Sarasota-Venice district voted $250,000 
worth of road and bridge bonds. Of this amount $210,000 will be 
expended for roads and $40,000 for bridges. With the $210,000 it is 
proposed to build 34 miles of sand-asphalt roads and grade 14 addi- 
tional miles. The deferred serial type of bonds will be issued in both : 
of these special districts. They will bear 6 per cent interest and will 
be retired in 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. 
Manatee district is contemplating the issuance of $239,000 of road 
and bridge bonds. 
The county has $97,445 of outstanding warrants which were ce 
for the purpose of building a court house. These bear 6 per cent 
interest and are to be paid off in five annual installments, covering 
the period 1913 to 1917, inclusive. There are also $285,000 of school 
warrants outstanding. These bear 6 per cent interest and must be 
paid in 20 years. | 
From the above it will be seen that the total debt of the county is 
$957,445, which represents 11.8 per cent of the 1915 assessed valua- 
tion. 
47234°—Bull. 393—16——6 
