Omaha daily bee., 1914-07-19
DOUGLAS NEXT TO HIGH MARK
Local County is Second in Tax Fund
Allotment.
VALUATION NEAR HALF BILLION
Property I'm Nebraska Totals over
-Four Hundred and Seventy
million Dollars in As
sessments.
LION a staft correspondentl

/NLINCOI.N. July S-(Special)-An ex-
traordinary table showing the various
uses to which county revenues go has
lust been compiled under direction Of the
state tax commission. 1t gives the levy
per thousand dollars of valuation for the
general fund Of each county OF the state,
the same data on the bridge fund, the
county road fund and levies for the pur-
pose of paying off railway and court
house bonds judgments and old claims
Township and special road and bridge
district lev,es not uniform over the
county, but which are reduced to an aver
age rate are also set out in the table.
The amount of taxes charged TO each
fund is also given in the compilation.
The work comprises the first authentic
!, 1ata on this subject that has ever been
1E,athered in the state 1t was assembled
~ Ward Il Newcomb, county clerk Of
CLAW county, one Of the most enthusiastic
officials in tho state. Mr.. Newcomb has
been responsive to call for aid from thu
tax commission and has given n great
deal Of his time to assisting the body I'm
getting at the weakness Of the preseu,
+ tax laws aud in recommending changes
that will leave them virile enactments.
value Nenr Half million.
The figures collected are for 1919. The
total assessed valuation of property OF
the state was s47O sc, 900 for that year
From that amount county general funds
were allotted S2,S15OOO on levies varying
from $3.50 per 1000 in Thayer and York
counties to 1925 in Garfield county
Douglas county was next to the high
mark with ss.12 per $1,000 Any number
Of counties were in the 50 class Only a
comparatively few fell below the s. mark
II every cent levied last year for bridge
purposes was collected then just H,6Oe,f77
went toward the betterment OF stream
crossings in the state. The bridge levy
was 81 per $1,000 in Nance county. That
was the high mark for the state. In KIM
ball county it was only so cents on the
1000 basis. Several counties went as high
as s. in this respect. Half a dozen
counties kept close to the dollar line.
/, Road funds were enriched by a levy
(that varied from 10 cents per thousand
dollars IN Cunning and Kearney counties
. TO s. in Boone Jefferson and Pawnee
counties. In Douglas county is was Sl.09
per thousand In Hall county It was 5l
cents Many counties varied from 50 to
81 while a number hovered around the
$3.50 mark.
Amount Seems Little.
The total raised in the state-if all was
collected that was levied-was Si76136
This is apparently an inconsequential
item. II is one that the people of the
state pay the least attention to OF any
thing on the tax calender. Yet it aggre-
gate nearly forty times the cost of the
NcbraskR City armory, an expenditure
which the people of the state are seeking
TO stop via the referendum route. 1t is
more than five times the $4,000 appro-
pration made for the reformatory II
would run all the executive departments
Of the state. And it is only one years
sum. Appropriations of a legislature cover
a two-year period, which in this COM
parison would decrease their profligacy
in spending the taxpayers money.
The total raised in the county activities
outlined in Mr. Newcomb's table exceeds
s6635,OO0 As that Is for one year. 1t would
run we'll above the S1SOO0O0o, including
the year 1914 In reality it would mean
that closer to the people than state af-
fairs there will have been expended by
the end Of the present year nearly 5000,
so more than the entire appropriation
list of the late lamented and berated leg
islature. Thus, to be consistent. the peo-
pie Of each county might turn the search-
light on themselves to see whether or not
they could curtail the huge sums which
they have rolled out over their roads and
. which they have put into bridges
n Highest in sherman County.
n The total county rate varied widely
der the state at large. 1t topped the
mark in sherman county. where it
reached $3.50 on each $1,000 valuation.
Jt averaged SlLlO over the state. 1t ex-
ceeded $50 in the following counties:
Nance, Boyd. Chase, Custer and Holt.
1T exceeded the average in the following
counties:
RoN Rutte Keya Paba