The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-01-12
T II ASH AN GIN H.

interest not called for in New York, and there
fore returned to the treasury-al which Item
constitute debt rather than reyenue-Wer
1926, 965.40. The total receipts, therefore
were So, 75s, 721.57. The disbursements wer
S3,515,458.77, to which should be added tn
excess of the dedication over former apparen
balance, which was 81, 1885, making a tota
Of 1852, 602.72. The balance in the treasu
ry, therefore, at the commencement OF tn
present fiscal year, was 1926, 1885.
| The levies of each year produce the receipts
of the next year. The receipts and dlsburse
ments of the current year, therefore, can "A
present be only estimated; the levles only
which were made in part under the acts of the
last and in part under the acts of preceding
sessions, are certain. The takes paid, and te
be paid, into the Treasury during the current
year arise frem these levies. Referring you tc
former communication for relating
to former years, I shall state summarily the
amount of taxable values, and of taxes levied
in 1853. The total number of acres listed fol
taxation was % ,29S, 1868. The valuation oil
these lands was S473, 183, 1872; that of Town
and City lots, S153, los, S15; that of chattels
$250,514,085; makingthe aggregate valuation
of all taxable property in the State, SS40,800,
OBJ. The taxes levied for general State pur.
poses were, for Sinking Fund, S1,047 ,902; fol
general State purposes, S5S7 ,206; for Common
Schools, S1,259 092; for District School Ii.
b~raries, $50, 800; in all s2,9 ,122. The lev.
les for County purposes were, for County ex-
penses, 81, 13O, 939; for Bridges, 1851 1888; fol-
the Poor, S222,471; for Building, S320,954
for Roads, $3.50, 594 IS; for Railroads; S462,-
43O; in all So, ,22O. The levies for Town
ship, City and other local purposes, were, for
Township expences, S284,051; for schools and
school houses, 81, 43S,Sl1; for City, Town and
other special taxes, 81 ,633 ,816; making a to-
tai for Township and City taxes of S3,356,679;
to which add for delinquencies and forfeitures,
S572, $50; making the aggregate of County
and other local taxes Sc, 77S,52S
\ slight degree of attention to these facts
will correct the common notion that the addi-
ton to existing taxation of a new levy of some
fraction of a mill cannot be of much conse-
quence. The levy for school libraries is $685.
920; yet the rate is but one tenth of a MILL
1t is the aggregate of such rates, which, con-
sidered separately and without reference to the
sums produced, seems so inconsiderable, that
constitutes the total burden of taxation.
While these considerations must RECON-
meneJ nstts-tha Geperal Assembly only, but
to the local authorities even more emphatfcaffy,
the duties of prudence, forbearance, and care
full economy, there is yet something in the
objects to which the revenues are devoted
which may reconcile us, in some measure, to
the taxation which We bear. A large proper
ton of all the public income is expended di-
rectly for the commsn good. The levies for
schools, school houses and libraries amount, for
example, to S2,7S1, 1922, or nearly one third of
the taxes in all forms and for all purposes
Yet who would dispense with our SCHOOLS and
school houses, or libraries? Who does not
know that this expenditure is more than reim-
bursed in the enhanced value of property, and
the augmented power of the people? To tax
alton for these and similar purposes, the pro-
ceeds being honestly and economically applied,
the people cheerfully consent. They murmur,
and justly murmur, when their burdens are
augmented beyond the proportion of benefits
by improvidence, waste or peculation. For
the prevention of these evils the people must
look to County Commissioners, Township
Trustees, Boards of Education, and City and
Village Councils, even more than to the Gen
eral Assembly. 1t cannot be too deeply i'm
pressed upon the public mind that the discre-
ton committed to these local authorities,
however limitod and guarded; must be neces-
sarily large, and that, in respect to the imposi-
ton of far the largest proportion of taxes, they
constitute the real legislatures. Too much
care cannot be exercised in the choice of eiti-
zens to fill these important positions.
To ensure the safest and most beneficial
workings of our financial system it seems de-
sirable that assessment, levy, collection and
disbursement be brought as closely together as
possible. 1 can see no good reason why as
sessments may not be made and equalized,
levies determined and duplicates prepared du-
ring the last quarter of each fiscal. year. This
would bring levies into close proximity to col
lections and ensure the most exact proportion
possible between values and taxes. Nor do L
perceive why County Treasurers collecting
revenue for the State should not be required to
report their collections at brief intervals, in
the same manner as the collectors on the canals,
and hold them subject to the draft of the
Comptroller, or why their final settlements with
the State Treasurer should be delayed to the
late day now designated by aw.
Each years income should, as nearly as is
practicable, pay each years expenses, and no
money should remain in the Treasury except
what is needed for current disbursements. The
act passed at your late session, providing for
the semi-annual collection of taxes was, in my
Judgment, a wise step in the right direction,
and I am glad to know, has given general sat
~isfaction in its practical operation. The act
authorizing drafts by the Comptroller upon the
County Treasurers, for the taxes collected in
December, just past, in order to their applIca-
ton to payment of the interest due on the
first of the current month, was another step
towards the same end.
Justly obnoxious to censure as was the
pTdCtlcc VI COllCCiHS " liz SOuutJ iiOoo
urers by similar drafts, in advance of their
regular settlements, large sums to be added to
large balances already in the Treasury or to
supply the place of large balances fraudulently
distracted, it can now hardly admit of question
that our safest future policy will be to pay our
January interest from December, and our July
interest from June collections. AS far as pos
sible, also, the expenses of the first two quar-
tiers of each fiscal year should be betrayed from
the former, and those of the two last quarters
from the latter collections. I~reccommend such
legislation as may deemed necessary to give Prac-
teal effect to these suggestions by providing
for the prompt payment into the State Treas
ury of the States proportion of taxes as soon
as collected, and requiring earlier settlements
by the County Treasures with the State Treas
urer. Such legislation would enable the Au-
ditor of State to lay before the general Assem-,
bly,, at an early day in each session, a statement
of the actual receipts from taxes in December
and the timated receipts in June, as well Of
the actual and estimated receipts from all Other
sources during the year, and this statement