Amador ledger., 1901-09-27
A LAME ARGUMENT.

Wouia IL we were Incorporated.
Amodor county says to Suffer
Greek: Incorporate and l will give
you So, 1856 to help pay for your
sewers, streets and fire equipment. "
1t will be argued by the wise ones
that if the county makes us this do
nation she will be that much short
and will have to increase her tax
rate accordingly. True, but what
share of the shortage will Suffer
Creek pay? Just one-eighth, because
the assessable property being four
and Onehalf millions, Suffer Creek
has but one-eighth of it in her
limits; so it will be seen that of this
So, 1876 extra taxes Amador county
will require, our share will be less
than 500, leaving US clear gain of
nearly S., OOO.-Record.
We find the above in the Amador
Record in an article arguing in favor
of the Incorporation of Suffer Creek.
1t is claimed that by diverting the
road tax levy on the assessed value
of property within the proposed city
limits of Suffer Greek, also the road
poll taxes collected and the sum
paid for county licenses within that
town, the city would have a clear
revenue of $4,000 to start with, with
out paying cent more taxes than
the property holders there are now
paying. In other words Suffer
Greek is urged to incorporate be-
cause it would throw upon the
balance of the county the burden of
maintaining the roads. AS the law
provides that neither road tax nor
county licenses can be collected for
county purposes within the limits of
municipalities, therefore, the Am
dor Record argues, self-interest
should prompt Suffer Greek to in
corporate, because the lions share
of the cost of supporting the city
government would come out of the
county treasury. Unfortunately,
the way things have been run in
Amador county there is some force
in the argument. But if the road
money derived from property tax
and poll taxes were disbursed geo.
graphically as the law provides,
there would be no force whatever in
this argument. The law expressly
provides that the road fund shall be
apportioned as nearly as possible to
each district in proportion to the
revenue collected in such district.
If $4,000 is received from Township
-Four from road taxes, the same
amount is supposed to be apportion-
ed to that territory for the improve
ment and maintenance of its roads.
The same principle holds good with
regard to the towns. If the prop
erty-holders of Suffer Greek pay
into the county treasury $500 for
road purposes, that amount is sup
posed to be returned in the main
tenance of the streets within the
town limits. So that if the spirit Of
the law were carried out, neither SUIT
ter Creek nor any other town in the
county would gain or lose by incor-
poration, as far as money available
for road improvements concerned.
We admit, however, as the road
money is being spent, and has been
spent for years, the tendency is tc
drive the towns to incorporation for
the sake of self-protection against a
system of gross injustice. AS far as
Jackson is concerned, and we pre-
sumo it is the same in Suffer Greek,
hardly dollar of public money is
expended upon the streets of the
town. We pay our road taxes yea1
after year, to the tune of $4,000, and
the entire sum is dumped upon the
roads outside the town proper. Il
our streets need fixing-and they dc
badly-the people are told thai
it would be sacrilege to touch the
county money for that purpose, and
the property-holders have to put W
specially for the streets, or let then
go unfxed. That is the policy thai
has held sway here for so long, that
many people have actually got the
notion that the law forbids county
officers repairing the streets of {
town with county funds. Is it to bt
wondered at, therefore, that in face o
this unrighteous discrimination the
principal towns of Amador are turn
ing to incorporation as the remedy
That would turn the tables. II
would make the outside roads de-
pend upon the property holders ad
jacent thereto. The argument Of
the above extract is therefore en-
tirely misleading. Suffer Greek
must not bank on the proposition
that she will be benefited by with
drawing from the combination o.