River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-12-11
Making . grand total Of 49,.

To meet this estimated expense, the
| state will derive from fees on railroads,
| telegraph and insurance companies,
! tax on suits, hawkers and peddlers and
| miscellaneous sources, the sum OF
| $677 ,45554, leaving to be provided for
| by legislative appropriation the sum OF
| 1920, $1,000.
In regard to the matter OF making
| the state assessment the secretary
| says:
The legislature at its regular session
for 1879 having provided for annual
state assessments instead of biennial
assessments, as heretofore, the state
board, pursuant to the amended law,
met at the capitol on the third Wednes-
day OF May last and proceeded TO the
discharge of its duties. Upon exanln-
| ing the abstracts of the assessment
rolls, as returned by the county clerks,
| showing the local assessed value OF all
| taxable property in each county of tue
| state, it was with real satisfaction the
board found that the local officers had
generally tried honestly and faithfully
to govern themselves by the express
and imperative provisions of the stat
utes, and to assess all property at "the
| full value which could ordinarily be OBJ
tanned therefor by private SALE" The
abstracts showed very large increase
| (S103, $40, 228l over the local assess
ment of the previous year, and the
board sought, since the increase was
not uniform, to distribute it in such
manner that no county should be COM
PEELED to bear an ineguitable tax IN
consequence of its assessors having bad
conscience as well as judgment awak-
ened.
TAXES AND INDEBTEDNESS.
In the collection of statistics relating
to the taxes and Indebtedness of the
several counties, cities and towns, great
pains has been taken to secure as &C
curate reports as possible. An exam
ination of the returns for former years
showed that in many cases heretofore,
gross mistakes had been made by
some county officers, is not properly
distinguishing between the indebted
ness of the toq07ls in the cocnty, and the
Indebtedness of the county, as a county,
exclusive of that of the towns, and that
hundreds of thousands of dollars OF the
debts of certain towns had been again
reported for the same year as an exist
ing debt of the county. In the returns
for the present year, such misleading
repetitions have been corectedwhereyer
discovered, before the summary state
ment was prepared for publication
herein.
In the compilation Of the table of
"Taxes levied in the towns, cities and
villages" Appendix re" caused to be
deducted from the column headed
estate Tax" and added to the proper
items az county or town taxes, all
special taxes levied in such counties or
towns to pay the principal and interest
due the state on loans from the Trust
Funds and enormously returned as
state tax, so thSt the amount Of state
tax appearing In the table might agree |
substantially with the amount appor- |
toned by the state. In the next follow
ing table, marked GU is shown in as
much detail as the records of the /
county furnish, the manner of the ex-
penditure of the county tax proper.
The secretary complains OF the I'M |
perfect returns made regarding the |
statistics OF farm products, and as a re-
suit the statistics received by him IRON /
the county officials are untrustWortby /
The same complaint is made respect
ing the deaf and dumb and blind stat /
istics.
The compilation Of town laws as ca.
thorized by chapter 195 OF 1879, VAL
soon be ready for distribution-the
work having been prepared by dohn q.
Spooner and Hiram Hayes.