The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-08-11

V1V'A1; 15IU, go, 1913; 1911, S9115 IA.
Fine and Forfeiture Fund-19O9,
s11,640.65; 1910, s11,91221; 1911.
$6433.46.
General School Fund-1909, s45,-
579.26; 1910, s44,S9S.s1; 1911, $751;
1865.
Road Fund-19O9, S26.174.S2; 1910,
s26,l05.04; 1911, S25,506.9S.
Building Fund-19O9, $11,4SO.3O;
1910, $11,O1O.G0; 1911, s9935.6O.
Special School Fund-1909, S1O,-
454.32; 1910, $S9S9.54; 1911, S7754.37.
Totals-19O9, $129.33906; 1910.
$12S,635.09; 1911, $S9,992.1O.
Outstanding Indebtedness
There has been considerable OUT
standing Indebtedness in this county
for a long time. AS far back as 1903
the county appears to have been $685.
71S.13'in debt. Taking this as basis,
on July LIST, 1911, the outstanding in
debtedness Of the county was $107,-
344.S2, distributed among the several
funds as follows:
School fund, S7G56SS: road fund
S69,563.73; general revenue fund, $751;
309.95 fine and forfeiture fund,
Sl596.39; building fund. s12,217.S7. To-
tai, $107,344S2
Cash RaIanca
The total cash on hand July 1st,
1911, was S2S67.O2, divided among the
funds as follows:
General school fund, $S.47; road
fund. $23.1S; fine and forfeiture fund,
1921; building fund, 1888; general
revenue fund, $2O.S5; special school
fund. $2723.9S. Total, S2S67.O2.
This sum was covered by deposits
with the local banks.
Borrowing Money
In my Judgment, it is doubtful if
county commissioners have the right
to borrow money outright. The COM
missioners are expressly authorized
to build court houses and jails, with
out bonding the county. 1908 Gen.
Stat. The statute, however, stipu-
lates the levy for such purposes
shall not exceed five mills for five
years. Chapter 569S laws of Florida
Acts of the legislature of 1909 page
26, providing for the county levy,
authorizes the county commissioners
to levy tax not exceeding four
mills on the dollar to pay all outstand-
ing Indebtedness and interest there
on. Now, the assessed valuation of
taxable property in Marion county for
the year 1910 was s5,156,713. A
levy of five mills would be INSULT
cient to pay for a new court house
or jail, such as the county has.
1t would seem to follow then, that
the law contemplates such condi-
ton arising within county as may
cause an outstanding Indebtedness to
accrue by providing for the payment
thereof and the interest thereon.
In this county no money has been
borrowed outright; an Indebtedness
has accumulated by the issue of more
warrants than the income would take
care of
Outside of the temporary loans
made by the former treasurer, the
county has not borrowed any money
in the usual sense of the term; it
has, however, paid for the use of
money. That is to say it has main
tanned its warrants at par, and to do
so found it necessary to pay interest
for the use of money. In 1910 inter
est paid amounted to $5,464.3S; six
months OF 1911 it was $6,669.59. The
amount of money upon which the
county is paying interest is constant
ly fiuctuating, hence it was not prac-
tical to undertake to ascertain the
amount.
Refunding Warrants.
The commissioners recently, June
7th, 1911, issued interest bearing war
rants on the road fund, designated
as refunding warrants amounting to
.S4S,329.77 They had also issued GER
tain warrants, all of which were vail
dated and legalized by chapter 62SS