Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-05
COUNTY FINANCES
WILL FIGURE IN
LEGISLATIVE BILL
Continued From Page ~

| ty and the ad valorem tax rate of
every county, and from these. were
fifiured the total annual taxes COL
lected by the counties.
The figures show that Georgias
counties will collect this year in
round numbers the total sum of ST.
100000, which is nearly twice as
much as the revenue to be collected
by the state.
In other words, for every dollar
paid the state, the taxpayer pays the
county nearly two dollars.
Provision of the Bill
Judge Hamilton's bill provides in
substance the following:
1. That the county authorities
shall make a budget on or before
the tenth of February and publish
the same, together with tho rate -
taxation necessary to meet the ex-
penditures contained in the budget.
2. That the county treasurer or
bank acting as treasurer shall pre-
sent the county authorities, before
the making of the budget, with an
itemized statement of outstanding
and unpaid warrants, and that this
shall be added to and published with
the budget.
3. That all county warrants shall
be issued under seal, and shall be-
come due and payable the thirteenth
of December in the year when is
sud, unless an earlier due date be
specified on the face.
4. That on or before the first of
September the county authorities
shall calculate the amount required
to pay the years budget and any
unpaid warrants coming over from
previous years. and shall levy rate
of taxation to cover the same, and
that any Indebtedness incurred in eX-
cess of the published budget snail
be included in the tax levy.
5. That the treasurer or bank act
ing as treasurer shall pay all cOun-
ty warrants in order Of their issq-
ance. ,
be personally liable for any deficit
arising from failure or refusal to
comply with the terms of the act.
and liable to any person or firms
suffering loss thereby.
Says Public Is the Loser
'"The public mind" said Charles j.
Haden at the conference of business
men to discuss Judge Hamilton's
bill, has been focused mainly upon
the necessity of reorganizing state
finances, but has given little atten-
ton to county finances, which are
far more important to the taxpayer
from the standpoint of dollars and
cents.
81 estimate that the people c.
dGOTSld are lOSluS PG,V'O,VOO o. y S1I
in excessive prices paid by counties
for supplies and construction because
contractors and dealers increase their
prices to safeguard themselves
against the ruinoUs discount rates
they must pay on county warrants.
A county warrant backed by the SOW
ereign power of the state, equiya-
lent to tax lien upon every dol
lars worth of property ii the coun..
ty, ought to be the best grade of
commercial paper instead OF that,
it is among the worst.
Laws relating to county finances
in Georgia are largely the product
of ante-bellum conditions, when the
average county eXpends less than So
900 a year, when road work consists
in summoning the males Of road
working age to appear with pick and
shovel on Monday morning previous
to- court week and cut some pine
tops and throw some dirt in the mud
holes and washoutS.
THE counties now collect and eX-
pend annually nearly twice the
amount collected and expended by
the state. Fulton county this year
will expend $1,936,067; Bibb county
will expend $764,954; Chatham coun;;
ty will expend $687,414; Richmond
county will eXpend $316,111; Musco-
gee county will expend $261,924.
These are the largest. The others
grade down in proportion to popu-
lation and taxable values"