The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1924-03-07
COUNTIES BONDED
FOR 80 MILLIONS
FERGUS COUNTY HAS LARGEST
INDEBTEDNESS OF MON
TANA COUNTIES
Has Total Debt of $2,315, 754, While
Cascade is Second With $1,664,757
and Lake County, Brand New, Has
No Indebtedness.

Total bonded and warrant indebt
edness of the counties of Montana al
the close of the last fiscal year was
3O,77O,114, according to compila'
ton made by the state board OF
equalization. 1t is pointed out that
taxes which the residents of the "a
counties, which have bonded or war
rant indebtedness must pay must ex-
coed current expenses of county ana
municipal governments by margin
large enough to at least pay interest
on this debt and to eventually retire
the debt.
Lake county, newly created, is the
only one of the states SUBDIVISIONS
which does not have both warrant
and bond debts. Lake county re-
ported neither.
The debt of more than $50, 0OO,OOO
is that incurred exclusively in the
name of the several counties-not IN
Guiding the debts of incorporated mu-
inequalities, the total for which is not
available but undoubtedly runs into
additional millions.
Fergus county has the largest DEBT
of the "a counties having debts, Fer
gus. on the date reporting, owed
S443,754.82 on outstanding warrants
and it had $1,872,00O in outstanding
bonds, a total debt of $2,315, 754.82.
Cascade county is second in rank
in the size of its paper obligations
having 100000 in bonds and $15,-
1916 in warrants, or total OF ST.
664,757.36. Next comes Silver Bow
with S1,464,533 as a total debt OF
which $1,138,000 is represented in
bonds and $326,536.59 in warrants.
The three counties which lead in the
amount of their debt, however, have
large assessment valuation totals to
be taxed for the retirement of these
obligations, Fergus having total val
uation of 1885, 63; Cascade haV-
ing $110, 565,430, and Silver Bow
$119,977,151.
The fourth county in the amount
of debt, however, is Musselshell,
which has $1,167,648.39 of bonds
outstanding, s145,308.03 in warrants
and total assessed valuation of only
S17,447,108, according to the state
boards figures.
A glance at the table of outstand-
ing warrants, bonds and the valua-
ton totals shows that the debt of the
three first named counties is in ratio
considerably less than many of the
smaller counties which have debts
almost as large in dollars and cents
and at the same time have total ass
essment valuations only fractionally
as large.
Beaverhead county is in class by
itself so far as Indebtedness is con-
cerned, having an assessable value
of S23,374,092 and total debt OF
only $19, 928.41, of which $13,5OO is
in the form of bonds and $6,428.41
in warrants.
Next to Beaverhead in the ranking
of counties with reference to the
of their debt comes Treas
ure county, which has $4,000 worth
of bonds and $17.85 in outstanding
warrants. Treasure county, however,
has a small assessment valuation,
S6,662,036. In this order, next comes
Powder River, which has $S,925,21O
of assessable valuation and a debt
of S129,842.22, of which $4,000 is
in bonds and $52,842.22 is in war
rants.
The debt of some of the represen-
tative counties, and the valuation to-
tails, is as follows:
Missoula, total debt s935,551.77,
of which $889,100 is in bonds and
is in warrants. Its total
valuation is $40, 4S3,664.
Yellowstone total debt $848, 244.32 |
of which $834,000 is in bonds and
$14,24432 is in warrants. A valua-
ton total of $74,874,879.
Hill county, total debt of 1851
272.S9 of which 1861, 900 is in bonds
and $6,272.S9 is in warrants. A
valuation of $33,S61,523.
Custer county, total debt of
$63O,644.72, of which $615, 900 is in
bonds and $15,644.72 in warrants.
Total valuation, $27,959.697.
Lewis and Clark county, total debt
of $627,197.54, of which $615,000 is
in bonds and $12,197.54 is in war
rants. This county has a total as
sessed valuation of $61,7S7,537.
Park county, total debt of SAIL
655 of which $4S9,000 is in bonds
and $2,655 is in warrants. A total
valuation of 31,322,831.
Gallatin county, total debt, $685.
S49.86 of which $685., 1000 is in bonds
and $2,S49.86 is in warrants. A total
valuation of $46,846,305.