Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-04-27
R. r. EXTENSION.
MINERAL PorNr, Wis, April %, 1871.

The towns OF Iowa County taking ant
holding their proportion of the presen
Iowa County Indebtedness MS an offse
in the final payment Of the debt, and il
what way it can he legal. and 80 held a.
legal Offset In reply call your at
tebtion TO dieter addressed nv me t
the people of Iowa County, under dat,
. of 10Th inst, printed before the receip
Of your letter IN that publication IN
dertook to illustrate the practical opera
ton Of the payment hy any town OF rs
proportion of the county Indebtedness
bv taking the town Of Arena whose pro-
portion upon last years assessment
would lie about 10000 and nv views
nre summarized in the following extract
suppose the town Of Arcns was to Issue its bond
fr 30, 100 Of he took Of he Mineral Point Rail
| road, and should the exchange the ST. rk for .
0' Of county Indebtedness what would he its stafn
| win. re alton 20 the county debit II seems very
plain The town would then become the creditor
Of the county to he amount Of $40 600 while ut The
same tiine il would he n debtor In common with the
other towns for the whole deot the propo fion Of
the debt bel ngne 10 this town be ng precisely The
suue as thu amount Of its debt against tho county
so that its credits could be offset against lis debts
and lis liablny to pay any further sum on the 20 ~
ty dent would be abs'lutely discharged. n might
smoothly but my opinion IL that the equity powers
Of TIE court would prove ample to prot ct the tnwn
against any firt payment II any shsuid be at
tempted 10 be enforced
if any town in the county is nnder an
obligation to raise by tax specific sum,
(, be paid into the County Treasury for
n specific purpose, and at the same time
has a right TO have the same or any part
of il Immediately refunded bv the Coun-
tv Trensurcr is it not self evident that
the town ought not in justice to be re-
quired to raise by tax the same money,
which as soon rs collected and paid to
| the County Treasurer, is to be imme1i>
atcly paid hack to it? think the prop.
osition needs but to be stated to be ap-
preciated by all
That the Offset ought in Justice and
| equity TO be made, every disintercSted
man. and every candid man, even If in
teresscd, will admit The Only difficulty
arises from the practical question of how
it can be legally done, and what course
collect the tax from the debtor towns and
not collect it from the creditor towns.
The laws now provide that "the board
! Of Supervisors, shall at their annual
meeting in November determine bv res
o!utipn the amount Of tax to he levied in
tneir county for county purposes for the
year claws OF 1869, page 1867
That the clerk of the board shall APP
portion the connty tax levied upon his
county as aforesaid, among the several
towns and cities therein in
proportion to the relative valuation
thereof to the aggregate valuation of the
whole county and within ten
days alter she meeting of the board, he
/ shall certify to the clerk Of each town or
city in bis county the amount 50 appor
toned, Claws Of 1869 page 1856 sec | |
IL any town or city in the county was
the born fle holder Of any county in
debte ness, to pay which the county
board was about the levy tax for coun-
tv purposes, (and it world make no diff /
ference whether the Indebtedness was
acquired in aiding % railroad or not,) !
ami it such town or city, shou before |
such levy, furnish satisfactory evidence |
to the comfy board TINT it was 81 III |
bona fide holder, it would then fevolvs
upon the cou ,ty board AS an act o.! sim
Pile Justice to such creditor town, to ns-
certain the amount of the credit to !
which such town was thus entitled If /
upon examination, it WAS ascertained |
that the amount Of the credit was "a
large rs the roportion Of Tux belonging /
TO that town on account of the whole tax 7
TO be levied to pay county Indebtedness,
then the board ought to instruct the CLERK
IN apportioning such tax among the sev>
eral towns and cities, 10 omit entirely
such creditor towns AMI if it was as
csrtainei that the amount of credit to
which the towns was entitled was less
than it's proportion Of the whole tax,
then the county board ought to instruct
the clerk to apportion to snch creditor
towns, only the balance Of its propor-
ton of the whole tax. for county indeht>
edness as would remain after deducting
the amount of its just credits,
ff the county board would pursue this
very just course, no legislation would be
necessary 'to make all work smoothly
And it is only to provide for the possible
contingency that the county board might
neglect or refuse 10 perform very plain
duty, that it would be desirable to pro-
vide by law some mode to efectually
protecr the equitable rights of the cred
ltor towns
There need be no difficulty either
about making change 1t would only
he necessary for town to acquire an
amount OF county Indebtedness sufficient
~ large to cover Its share Of the county
TAX, and if there was any surplus II
would be paid back by the County Treas.
urer out Of the amounts collected from
the debtor towns.
IT, however. "A tax should be levied be-
fore the legislature meets-sav at the
next November session Of the board