The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1885-08-25
For the Asheville CITIZEN.
MADISON COUNTY FINANCES
HEARD FROM AGAIN.

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plume Walter concerning the finance
of Madison county and l hope, as the CIR.
IzEE is the fearless friend ofthe good
citizens of Western Carolina, M ads o1ra.
] well as any other sections that you will
give space in the columns Of your paper
to Taxpayer, and one who has, never
given the tax eoliector any trouble II col
lectlng; ;;-ean Walter" say as much y,
for few remarks, as reply to the article
above referred to. Now do not propose
to yindicate the commissioners OF III Iadisdn
county in all things they have done IN the
last four or FIVE years; neither do / pro-
pose to denounce them as being guilty of
thigh handed fraud because they have
not done all teings well during the last
four or five years, because, in the MAN..
they have done their duty, and / BELIEVE
under the circumstances could have done
no better. At the time fhe present board
of Commissioners were elected. the
finances of Madison county were in bad
EGSs.t,on; Ths saiB8Rt fhe Streets Of Mar
shall at from 10 to 20 cents in the IDOL
lar, the public-offices of the county were
in desperate condition, being wanting in
regularity and books upon which to keep
the proper records. The county was with
out poor house and a Jail, and the court
house was very much out of repair and
in addition to all this, there was an out
standing debt of from ten to twenty thous-
and dollars. The present board of COM
missioners have met the current expenses
-ofthe county, supplied the deficiencies, as
found in the several offices of the county,
repaired the court house, built a poor
house, an iron bridge across the French
Broad at the town of Marshall, and have
almost completed new Jail, and all this,
too, without raising poll tax higher than
three dollars. ...e
The outstanding debt has been satisfac-
torily met under the provisions of an act
passed by the late legislature allowing the
commissioners of Madison to settle the
public debt of the same But "Walter"
says the commissioners levied special tax
in 'S4 to pay q of the county's outstand-
ing Indebtedness. Now this is a mistake
and shows that he is very much wanting
in information asregards this matter. The
commissioners levied, it is true enough, a
special tax in '837 and 'S4, under the pro-
visions Of an act passed by the legislature
of '83. authorizing them to levy q special
tax, Of an amount not to exceed sixteen
thousand dollars. This tax was to be
levied for the purposes of building a Jail,
repairing the court house, building a.
bridge across the French Broad at the
town of Marshall and for paying the out
standing Indebtedness of the county. 1T
is also true enough that the commissioners
in '84 declared dividend among the cred
itors of the county of 80 per cent, but
owing to the increased current expenses
of the county, they were unable to comply
with their declaration IN this matter; and
consequently it is true they have bonded
the outstanding debt of the county to run
10 years at 6 per cent. interest, payable
annually, and in order to meet the interest
annually and the principal at maturity, 4
and to pay the remainder of the Jail and
bridge debt, they have this year C8S) levied
a special tax of one dollar on the poll and
one dollar on every three hundred dollars
worth of property, and this amount con-
stitutes the entire special tax levied for the
year of '8s. Now remember that almost
every dollar of the outstanding indebted
ness of the county, prior to the bonding of
the same, was entered at per cent, so
that you can see that the bonding of the
debt cannot in any way, SO far as the inter-
est is concerned, made it more bnrdensorne
to the taxpayers of the county, but has
gone long way to place zthe
county on firmer financial
basis, its bonds now being worth from
80 to 80 cents in the dollar, whereas, be-
fore, the county paper was not worth,
and could not be sold for 40 cents in the
dollar
But Walter says when the commits
sioners met in 1885, to again consider the
tax matter, they did not reduce the tax /
as they said they would do,s but raised
the poll from So to $34. Now, Messrs.
Editors, this is mistake, and am sur
prised to hear such statements from one.
who, ] think, knows to the contrary,
Let truth prevail at all hazards. Poll
tax is not So so but it is S. 80, the addi-
tional 80 cents is special tax for public
road purposes, which, according to the
act allowing its levy and collection, is to
be collected by the Sheriff and accounted
for as other taxes, and paid to the town
ship trustees to be expended in the keep
ing up and building of roads. / cannot
see why friend Walter finds 80 many
serious objections to the Ievying. collect
ing and expending of this special road
tax, for it is certainly the most necessary
tax that can be given to the people of
Western Carolina by legislation or 9th err
wise,-and again, / cannot see why he
objects to this special road tax or any
other tax, if all statements concerning
him are true, | am informed, by good
authority, that he oloes the county of
Madison tar for the year of 1884, and will
not pay if-and am also informed, that
hc is not citizen of North Carolina, but
q citizen of Kentucky, and has listed his
property and poll tdr IN that State. Now,
Messrs. Editors, assregards the levy and
of taxes, special or otherwise,
if those taxes are used for the express
purpose of meeting the legitimate |
demands of the county, / am of tn g |
opinion that it ought to be the policy of |
all good citizens to pay those taxes with
out murmuring or without denouncing
the officials of the county, and especially /
the commissioners, as being guilty of |
allowing q certain ring" and radical
or two" to moHopolize the whole tax for
their own private use. AS fega. DIS this |
ring" of which friend "Walter' speaks, |
| had always been taught, that it was
composed of democrats and republicans /
alike; but from his statements, one would |
infer, that it is (if it exists at all COM
posed wholly of democrats now if this |
was true, it would cast an everlasting re-
hection upon the democracy of Madison.
But am persuaded better things of the |
democratic and republican parties of
Madison county. do not believe that |
such ring exists or ever has existed in |
the county of Madison; but E do believe
that every cent of tax that has been
levied upon and collected from the tax
payers Of Madison county, has been used
and further believe, that
the present board of commissioners il the
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