Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-05-19

WHY is not the road work done in the
spsing and, why are not the bridges repair
ed and nsw ones built! are inquiries fire.
qusntly aud complainingly made. The
manifest aud only ro,sonable answer to
which i that under the present law, the
taxes are no, levied till the 4th Monday in
August, in each year, after which the lists
OF road taxes are to be made out, which at
best canno, be done till the latter part Of
September. And as the amount each is en-
titled 10 work, cannot be kuown till the hats
are made aud delivered. a great portion OF
the work is delayed ,llshat time And the
law permits the mho,e Of the read taxes TO
be worsea out: consequently however large
a tax may be levied, it is generally disposed
of in this way, leaving very small amount
Of money belonging to the "Roaa fund.- 70
each Township. Hence when bridges are
to be repaired, and new ones built, the funds
are minus; and many, particularly those
whose talents run in that line) complain OF
Supervisors in general and the County
Judge in particular.
Nov the road tax is fund separate from
the County funds; and it is entirely unuer
the control and supervision OF the iowh-
shin Trustees and tn, Supervisors. Con-
sequen,ly whatever may be the diihculties
and failures in this matter the County
Juape cannot be censurable. But whatev-
er real grounds of complaint may exist must
certainly be attributed to either the system
itselfor TO them who have the execution otit.
Blu, apprehend the system itself is mostly
in fault. for as general thing the roads
arc kept in as good condition as is reasona-
BILE to expect under such law. AT all
events, claim none Of the credit OF the
resent road system, and only AK that
those who are entitled to the credit may
have the blame also OF its defective work
ings.
But advise thu Township Clerks to set
tie with the County Treasurer as soon as
practicable, (which may he done the first OF
June) and let the Trustees have what mon
ey belongs to the respective Townships,
extended as soon and as we'll as possible
And as it is probable that there will be as
much road tax levied for the present, as
there was for last year, advise that the
old road tax lists be used till the new ones
can be had. For those who have the same
or as much property subject to taxation here
as they had last year. will, it is almost GER
tain, have as much road tax 20 pay tbs as
they paid last year. By this means the Su-
peryisors may proceed at once with the
road work, instead Of waiting for the new
lists till the best time for road work is pass
d. And in this way those little defeets-
which nevertheless are a great inconv.ni-
ence to the public travel, may and should be
repaired as soon as they are discovered.
But in gard to repairing and building
bridges, ] know of no way under the pres
ent law that sufficient amount Of funds
NAV be had, except for tax payers to pay
more of their road tax in money: and for
the present season let them pay their Super
yisors ans amount sufiicie ut TO purehase.ma-
terlals and pay for heavy work. Last year
l endeavored to relieve these difficulties TO
some extent, by making appropriations from
the County Funds" But the Legislature,
last winter, having refused to pass an act
authorizing County Judges to make apPro-
priations for Road purposes, and the pres
ent heavy liabilities of the County for ex-
tenses Of building the new Jail and other
important matters, render it unreasonable if
not impossible at present for further assis-
lance TO be given from the County Funds.
WIN. BURRIS,
May 18th, 1855. Co. Judge.
For the 0aIstts.