The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1896-12-04
UNWELGOME NEWS.
Beaton County Over $4,000 in
Debt. Concern OF Tax 3
payers. :

l
payers. S
Treasurer Buchanan's recent call for
county warrants, has caused consider
able speculation on the streetas to the
actual condition of Benton. county. Men
varied in their estimates of the county
debt, their guesses ranging from $4,000
to 10000. The case in question is for
county warrants issued prior to Sept. II,
/ 1892.
A GAzErrE reporter, in order to ac-
quaint the public with the ceunty's finan-
cial condition, examined the, county re-
cords this week and made the startling
discovery that the county is over $57,o
IN debt The apparent deficit shown BY
the books is about $4,000, while the
accnaed interest is over $4,000
This is the showing made by the
treas,ner's books while the Indebtedness
as taken from the ,cplaify financial eI-.
hibits and other records in the CLERK $
Office paats it at :. &5eoo more ihe'
county debt has. evidently been incsszs'
ns eaci, xearinstsad of being diuiiHisa'set'
Is foallly hoped BY thsaxerage taxpayss-
The nlaAter of interest Is the nightmares.
of the connty court. The interest paid
on county warrants being BOW redeeniess.
averages a M cent Of the warrants. s
The warrantssslraw 8, peg gent Interest,"
hlonI ,l,H tiine they are stamped not
paid for want Of funds This heavy
interest demand, makes the reduction
of the debt itself very difficult. Ii is.
worth while to inquire into the cause OF
! this large indebtedness. and discuss the
remedy.
Prior to the building of tine court house;
the county kept about even, sometines
it was, little ahead and sometimes
little behind, but warrants were at par.
|. Lincoln county was part Of Benton
then-a part that caused one-third of the
expenses, but contributed only small
portion of the revenues. The county,
! since that pleasant period Of its history,
has had two abnorinally heavy items of
expense, the building Of the court house
and the repairing of the general great
damage done to- roads and bridges by the
Aood OF 1900 In this food nearly every
bridge in the county. from the ocean to
| the Willamette river, was washed out.
The damage wrought by the food was
not far below the cost of the coArt house.
These two heavy expenses occurred close
together and during the administration
of Judge Holgate. At the expiration OF
his term Of Office the county was about
| S4s,oeo IN debt, with an $4,000 court
house, and a large number Of new
bridges to show for 1t.
Since then the heaviest unusual ex-
pense, aside from the $1,000 abstract con-
tract, hassbeen the repairs to the county
Jail costing about $500. Yet the debt,
instead of being gradually wiped ont,
has nearly doubled. The fault is, there
8 fore, more IN the lack of revenue than IN
: the expenditures.
But the normal expenses of the county,
however, seems to have increased not
4 withstanding the fact that Lincoln c.un-
ty is cut off. In what department this
oc :urs, probably careful examination Of
the books would reveal. The change
from fee to salary system for the county
officials perhaps has been somewhat cost; m
ly to taxpayers. The county lost $o,5oe
by the Job failure, but the receipt OF the
i delinquent o. P. R. R. taxes much more
. fy,a,, communicated ff,r this
With the county so heavily in debt
warrants have been at discount of Ie
per cent, aud recently there have been nc
buyers. Contractors, dealing with ths
t county, usually add 10 per cent to theil
; bids in order to save themselves from los:
on the. deprecated county paper. This
fruns up the expense of the county, ant
as the county has to pay interest on ths
: added 10 per cent, it cuts both ways. :
/ In making up the yearly levies and II
estimating the necessary revenues, th'
: county court has evidently not calculated
upon uncollected and uncollectabl
taxes. Last spring the court properl,
wiped off the books the. ''dead'' delin
quent taxes, running back for 10 years
These have been figured in as assets of tn
county, but were practically worthless
:. There seems to be necessity for a
immediate curtailing of county expendl
}. lures, or increase in revenues, or both.
d Judge Hufford was engaged whe
d called upon by the reporter but in brie
n interview stated that he considered tn
is recent financial exhibit correct. Har
II times have interfered with the collectio
d of taxes, the opening of new roads col
d stantly add to the couAty's expense, tt
m heavy payments of interest on und,
E. warrants, more than eats up any year
surplus of revenue over expenditure.
in The county court is confronted with
IS extremely difficult problem. The de
of must be reduced That is evident. ]
do that revenues must be increas'
which means increased taxation To p
n additional burdens on the taxpayers
ne the present hard times would impo
~ serious hardships. -..l.. ii
Why. suffer with Coughs, Colds and
e Grippe when Laxative Bromo Quinine "
cure you in ono day. Does rot produce
ringing in the head like Sulphate Of QUINN
- &, fol kipo on,