The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1916-03-09
Polk County Farmers Helpless.

I Farmers living in the vicinity OF
Des Moines must have sprung from a
different breed than those now resid-
ing in some other communities for
when nearly 500 of them were gath
cred at a road meeting at Ankeny
this week their demand was almost
Unanimous for a country road to be
paved with brick.
There are many such roads in
Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania,
paved nine and ten feet wide with
brick. The Polk county engineers
estimate for brick paving on country
roads is $l.5O per square yard or
about $4,000 per mile for a single
track nine feet wide with gravel on
each side of that. 1t would last ap-
proximately thirty years under mod
ern traffic conditions which are most
ly rubber tires and it's cost of main
tenance would be nominal; probably
nothing for few years and not to
exceed $25 per mile per annum for
the whole period.
II such an improvement could be
bonded for thirty years which is not
now possible under the law, the
cost of such a brick road would be
$500 per annum for payments upon
the principal. If it were paid in
equal annual installments as serial
bonds provide the whole cost would
average only half the time on inter-
est or half the interest for all the
time so that 4 u per cent bonds
would average 2 a per cent per an
mum upon the full amount or $2O2.5O
per annum average interest charges.
Add the average maintenance and
$527.5O per annum for thirty years
would pay for mile of brick road.
There is no provision for assessing
rural pavements to AUDITING farms in
this state and probably never will be.
Rural highway improvements are not
financed that way in any state. The
usual plan is to create an improve
ment district which is to be served
by the road and assess for the cost
AL land within the district including
the city to which the road leads.
There is no provision for this in the
Iowa law now so the farmers of Polk
county will have to pass the hat
around for brick paving for roads if
they get them and they will not have
any thlrty-year easy payment plan
for the contractor will want all cash,
The present county road tax in
Polk county together with it's auto
mobile money are sufficient this year
to meet half of this fixed charge for
putting $4,000 brick road on every
mile of the county road system in
Polk county, 1T miles, and everv-
body knows that fixed road lcvies
VIII raise more money every year in
the thirty years because of the new
property subject to taxation and au-
tomoblles are certain to double in
number. 1t is safe to say that Polk
county could meet two thirds of the
nXed charge upon 1T miles of single
track brick roads without increasing
present rates of taxation if road
revenues could be bonded for the an
proxlmate life of the pavements which
her 500 farmers want near Ankenv.
The other one-third would cost 30
each year for quarter section farm
aouttlng the pavement and So per
annuum for the farm back OF that if
II were to be assessed as a special
paving tax Dut ii special levy could
De spread over district as is the
method in use in other states the city
OF Des Moines would pay most of this
1t would cost the city
MIL upon all of it's taxable property.
The one thing about it that is lack
ing in Iowa is that there is no wav
under the present law whereby the
farmers can assess themselves by
their votes nor whereby the city can
nelp with taxes even if the voters
we're all unanimous We lack in
Iowa the legal right to do as we
please with our own money in build !
ing our own roads except that q
BOARD of supervisors can bond road
revenues for twenty years without |
any consent from The people, but then |
me taxes fall aIik, upon all farms
"hlle t.4e roads to be built will abult
only a few -Marshalltown