Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1922-01-26
GOV. NEsTOs' SPEECH

cred 0v SOunly NOmmlSSl
q. GOV. NEsTos' SPEECH ;,a
$s& s.2 y, The tax burdens Of the people of
North Dakota must be reduced, Gov
ernor r. A, Nestos told the County
Commissioners Of the state. in their
annual session here today Increase
in the general taxes for the five
years proceeding and including 1920
had been from 56A to. III 6-10
percent the governor declared and
the tax burden has reached the
point where economy must be prac-
sSticed ..'if it is to become possible for
Z the people to continue living, work
ing and raising their families here"
f. u By law, you superintend the fis-
cal affairs Of your, respective counties
and as such i have the handling OF
much property, large funds and a
very important public business" "
Governor Nestos told the commits
sioners after his greeting. with
the experience that most Of you
have had in dealing with the prob
lens confronting the County Com
missioners, In raising and expendins
the funds of county, you realize I
am sure, not only the Importance,
but the difficulty Of handling the
public business, ;instrusted to your
care economically and we'll. 4 ;2
,. GAS body, you represent pretty
well the aggregate public business
iof the state, and you are in a posi-
tion to speak for and also to speak
to, a large proportion Of the citizen
ship of our state. It is to you,
therefore, as representatives of the
people of the state, in close and con
stant touch with the taxpayers I'M
,yenr, counties, that I desire to speak
today Of some OF the pro ems coli-
fronting Us con fronting the state
as a whole and also the different
counties and. local political sub-div-
iHo1isiof the state. Il; (; !.
;t; 4iots OF Talk lbnt no Action Ri
There is usually a great deal or
talk ! about economy and4s then very,
little done in actual practice, but I
am sure that you realize that the
situation is' such now that we! need,
to practice as well as talk and to
exercise a rigid economy I'M all the
business affairs of our state, counts
les and local political subdivisions
I presume that you are familiar with:
the figures and that you realize that
from 1916 to 1920 inclusive, the to-
tai general property taxes levied, in
creased as follows: i.
County ...,-.-.-----.-.-...... 81 $40 20
City, Town and Village 575%
Township .. Sc Ia 20
School g -. III. I i I. 5. a.. III 6-10%
b The figures for 1921 are not yet
available but. you know; that these
will show still: further increases, and
would have made the percentage still
larger. These are the increases in
general property taxes only and we
have in addition for state purposes
all the special taxes that have been
in recent years such as on
automobiles. oil etc. an .dthree cent
hail tax. For the local subdivisions,
we have also the special assessments
of every. kind character and des-
cription. rs do not suppose there
is "a person present but feels that
this increase is larger than 1t ought
to be, and that we must discover
some method OF curtailing the cost
OF administering the public business
of our state, and the various sub
divisions thereof. We must, \. how
ever; also realize that to go back to
the levies and exp ditures of 1916
and before would be impossible.
There are more duties imposed upon
the public off icials, and more pub