The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1916-04-21


money raised from the sale of licen-
ses in each county. Ii also provided
that If no bonds were voted then the
county should have no portion OF the
money so raised.
I'm 1915 the law was amended SO
as to give each county 10 per cent
of the money raised from the sale
of automobile and motorcycle licen-
ses and further provided that in adj
dition to paying interest upon bonds
from such licenses each county
might create a sinking fund for the
redemption of the bonds outstand-
ing.
I'm 1913 Ada county took advan-
tage of this law and voted it's first
bonds in the sum of 100000. There
was some opposition at that time,
based upon the fear that this bond
issue would increase taxes and that
the license money from automobiles
would be insufficient to meet the in
terest charges. These bonds we're
voted and sold at and Il per cent
interest.
Every dollar with which to pay
! interest on these bonds have been Sc
cured from the state highway fund,
under the provisions of the laws
hereinbefore referred to,and without
expense to the taxpayers.
I'VE have not only been able to
pay the interest on outstanding
bonds from automobile licenses, but
last year we created a surplus of
$500, ad this year we will have a
surplus of $500 or more.
Money to Pay Interest.
atPalnTv fC ofu Cfo ~
the moneys received by Ada county
from the state treasurer from sale of
automobile licenses:
1913 (the year the law went
into effect) .......... 5 1850
1914 ............... lU,Ooz
1915 ............ 12,187
1916, TO April ....... 1924
1T is estimated there will be over
$4,000 more for the year 1916, MAX
ing total for this year of s14, 500.
"The interest on the outstanding
bonds amounts to $10.750 year.
ION the 100000 bonds which are
outstanding there was no interest
due until 1914, so when the first in
terest was payable, amounting to
| S10,750, we had on hand approxi-
mately $4,000 from the sale of au-
the above table of receipts you will
readily see that we have more than
years interest ahead on this entire
bond issue at the present time.
IF we vote these additional bonds
| it is believed that we can sell them
at 4 or 4 y per cent interest. We
would not use over $4,000 of the
money this year, and no interest
| would be due until year from the
time they are sold, so If you will
again refer to the figures given alb
owe you will see that We have enough
money on hand at the present time
to pay the interest on these new
bonds which will be due in 1917. OF
course in 1917 we will again receive
the license money, which will pay
our interest for 1918.
There is another thing which
should not be lost sight of. ant that
| is that the number of automobiles is
rapidly increasing. Space Will not
permit us to give detailed state
ment of this increase, but it has av-
eraged 81 per cent per year since
1913. 1t is believed by those who
have made a careful study of this
question that the automobile licenses
in Ada county will pay every dollar
of interest on 100000 OF bonds and
will also create a sinking fund suf-
ficient to pay the principal, and that
we will thus have our good roads
constructed and principal and inter-
est paid from automobile licenses.
Good Roads Will Lower Taxes.
The upkeep of poor roads has
been a tremendous burden upon the
taxpayers of Ada county. Few peo-
pie realize that since 1903 we have
paid an average of $4,000 year,
raised by direct taxation, for repair
of our roads and bridges; that in
1912 and 1913,we spent s279,544.3S
raised by direct taxation for reTair
and building of roads and bridges.
We then voted the bonds which are
outstanding and built our present
good roads.
"In addition to the roads construct
ed, we purchased and paid for COM
plete and modern roadbuilding mac
hinery This was a heavy expense
when we began building roads. We
will not have this expense in the fu-