Arizona republican., 1905-09-18

penses connected with the discharge of their duties are met from the receipts of the general property taxes of the municipalities. There is no discretion left to the municipalities as to the amount to be voted for schools and roads, except that they may, if they choose, levy a special school tax.
 MUNICIPAL FINANCE.
 The income of the municipalities is derived from a general property tax, which is collected by the insular au- thorities along with the insular prop erty tax, from license taxes, and from various minor sources. There was also originally granted to the municipali- ties 50 per cent of the proceeds of excise taxes, but this per cent was reduced from time to time. and at present the grant is no longer made. In the fiscal year covered by the fig ures in this report, however, the mu- nicipaIities received ' 1-2 per cent of the excise tax collections.
 The tax rate for municipalities is very low. owing to the fact that most of the expenses common to munich paIities is in Porto Rico borne by the insUIar government. That the insuIar government maintains the police force, etc, and also bears most of the ex-
 
 tenn and the system of public roads. relieves the municipalities of a great burden. The insular government also bears the entire expense of the assess menU and collection of taxes upon property, the special school tax, the bond redemption taxes, and the taxes for general purposes.
 In large part also, the character of municipal expenditures is determined by law. The obligation to pay over to the local bodies a fixed rate for school and road expenses has already been mentioned. In addition, there is an obligation to make provision for a health officer and to pay him a mini mum salary. The municipalities are also obliged by law, in framing their budget. first to make provision for the payment of outstanding debts. The power of municipalities to incur bond ed indebtedness is carefully regulated by law The total amount of indebt- edness must not exceed in any case per cent of the assessed value of prop erty for purposes of taxation in the municipality. The bonds when issued must bear interest at a rate not in ex- cess of 6 per cent per annum, and be redeemable and payable in twenty years. A sinking fund for the pay ment of the principal upon it's matur- ity must be provided for and a tax levied sufficient in amount to realize the sum required for meeting all in- terest and sinking fund charges as they become due. The four most i'm portant municipalities have thus far sold bonds under this law.
 The method of voting the municipal budget is very interesting and instTuc- tive. The budget must be carefully drawn, and can not be deviated from when once adopted, except in cases of emergency upon authorization of the secretary of Porto Rico. Provision must first be made for meeting any deficit that may have resulted from operations Of prior years all expenses for which the municipality is legally obliged s1 cohsbquence 5,f contracts entered into, all payments on account of final judgment rendered against it by any competent tribunal
 In each municipality the administra- tion of financial affairs is intrusted to two Officers-a comptroller and treasurer-as is usual Under the Por- to Rican law the treasurer of Porto Rico has formulated a complete sys- tenn of municipal accounting and re- porting that is uniform throughout the island
 The aggregate municipal receipts for the fiscal year ending June 30. 1903 were $1,S07, ,553. and the aggregate ex- were $1.394561.