The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1923-03-22

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or she figured the city tax rate for
the last year, he or she slipped a
few cogs and got a mathematical
result which did not raise an
amount by taxation sufficient for
the requirements of the city. A
year ago the council turned in bud
get estimates and put the rate at
80 cents on each hundred dollars of
assessed valuation. The tax COM
mission came back with a letter
telling the council that to raise
such a sum it was only necessary
to levy taxes to the extent of 92.7
cents. The result of the error was
that the rate did not bring in the
required revenue and instead should
have been SO cents, as set by the
council. Thus, this year, when the
cry is for reduction in taxation, the
council finds itself with a precedent
established which if changed would
bring political abuse upon their
heads, for if they attempted to
raise the same sum for city gov
eminent this year as was required
during the last year it would be
necessary to set the rate at about
$1.00.
The unanimous verdict was
that while the situation was dis
concerning and detrimental to .civic
plans, at the same time the people
generally are in no frame of mind
to permit a raise in the taxation
schedule. So the councilmen and
mayor commenced pairing gen.
erously until it appeared there was
no chance to shave any more from
city expenditures and still keep the
wheels turning. When they finished
they found it would be necessary to
levy at a rate of 93.5 cents per
500, which compares with the rate
last year of 92.7 cents. This COM
parison shows an increase in city
taxation of eight-tenths of a cent
per hundred dollars, which the coun-
cilmen felt no taxpayer would feel
particularly aggrieved at paying.
Income Will Be Less
A survey of local conditions in
connection with the budget consid-
erations shows that it may not be
expected that as much revenue
will accrue to the city this year as
last. For instance, license fees last
year ran $103 less than estimated,
and it is expected such revenue
will fall off still further this year,
for various reasons, one of which
is that federal abatement proceed
ings soon to be commenced will
shut off revenue from two soft
drink" parlors during the period of
one year that the law requires such
places must be kept closed, if it be
found that the prohibition laws
have been violated therein. Of
course it does not seem reasonable
to believe that such law has been
violated in this city, but apparently
some of the government officers
believe there has been a stray drink
or SO sold. Also, during the last
year, fines collected amounted to
$1430, and probably because it is
expected that the people will behave
slightly better this year, or perhaps
that there may be less persecution
of the poor, down-trodden crook,
the councilmen cut that amount
something more than thousand
dollars when they decided that the
city must not expect more than
$500 from this source during the
year.
Actual receipts last year outside
the tax levy amounted to SILL
075.O0, which included miscellan-
eous items such as licenses, fines,
and so on, while the amount raised
by taxation was $4,000, half Of
which was raised under the old city