Evening star., 1932-06-26

tract to the lowest and best bidders.
year in excessive charges in one town
ship and saved the State 100000.
In many school districts teachers
salaries were much too high. In other
districts the people seemed crazy over
basket ball, and rural schools, already
overtaxed, were paying $4,000 year
for coaches.
I'm great many school districts,
where the constitutional tax limit hac
already been reached, the people want
ed new school houses as big and as
fine as in neighboring districts. So, to
get around the tax limit, they would
contract with a holding company to
build the school house, the district to
pay a yearly rental for it, or to pay
instslmentS running 20 years at high
interest One county had three school
houses built on that plan, each cost
ing $780, 900, and the installment pay
mengS, while not on the tax rolls, did
add to the taxes already being paid
from 40 to so per cent.
This plan of building schools and
saddling new debts upon taxpayers was
so profitable that half dozen holding
companies were in the business. One
Taxpayers a promotion fee of $4,000
for building a $225, 900 school house
on the installment plan"
There was no law by which taxpay-
ers could appeal to the State tax board
from the action of those holding COM
panies, so the association had a law
passed, and stopped that sort Of &C.
tivity.
In one county with II townships,
there were IA big consolidated schools,
when four would have been ample.
Another fruitful source of waste and
graft was in road repairs and building
Of county roads. Under the constitu-
ton the State cannot issue bonds for
any purpose. 1t has an excellent system
of surfaced State roads, but all have
been built out of the gasoline tax fund.
The tax is cents gallon. While the
States as such could not issue bonds,
there was no such prohibition against
counties, townships, cities and incor-
porated towns, and they issued SO many
that expenses scared and levies reached
the point in many places. where taxa
ton virtually became confscation OF
property.
Duplication and Waste.
Here, for example, was a county with
| II townships, each with an outfit for
repairing roads, making II road repair
ing outfits in one county. In addition,
THE county had its road repairing ma
chinery. In many cases the county or
township would deposit in bank GER
tain sum, say $4,000, for road repairs,
and the contractor would simply draw
against it for his pay. In the same
county the prices paid for road repairs
would vary from $50 to 1888 q mile.
One county had scent levy for
road repairs. and $4,000 out of that
fund was going to road supervisors, all
precinct captains for a political ma
chine. The taxpayers association cut
that levy to cents, then to cent,
and this year the work is being done
on levy Of 1z-cent and the roads are
better than ever.
The association has saved the tax
payers about $50 900 900 in road repair
bills alone in the last nine years.
County and township officials for
merly got out their budgets in crude
way, many knowing little or nothing
about such things. The association has
assisted by sending its field men to help
them. In one county last year field
man of the association cut $535,0 out
of township and county budget, after
the budget had been made up, and thus
saved the taxpayers there Just that
much, In one year the field men Of
the association pared down county and
township budgets that had already
been prepared $l,250, 900, and did not
interfere with the full operation Of
schools and roads.
(Copyright, 1882. by the North American
Newspaper Allisnce. fnc)