The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-05-19
ALL REVENUE
ANTICIPATION
NOTES PAID
Further Reduction in the
Countrywide Tax Rate
Is Assured
COUNTY HOME BUILT
AT LITTLE EXPENSE

=
Henderson county owes approx
imately 100000 less today than
it did four years ago.
It's net bonded indebtedness
now is approximately $2,675,000.
Prior to 1880, less than $685.
900 had been paid on the county's
bonded obligations in q period of
Is years. The county does not
owe q dollar of revenue anticipa-
ton notes or any other kind of
note.
The foregoing and other infor-
nation was ascertained today by
The Times-News and is published
in response to a number of in
quiries regarding the financial
condition of the county, Che eff
feet of economics on the tax rate,
the prospects of further tax re-,
auctions, the decline Of property
valuations and other questions Of
vital public interest.
In addition to the debt reduc-
ton mentioned, the county has
erected almost without any out
lay of money, q county home for
which a former administration
had purchased land and drafted
plans. The home then planned
would have cost approximately
$4,000 and would have been con-
structed with money borrowed or
raised by a bond issue.
Public records at the court
house reveal that the countrywide
ad valorem tax levy was reduced
from $536,587 in 1929 to $780,
280 in 1888, and that in this same
period-a period of extreme eco
nomic stress-the assessed valua-
ton dropped from $28, 694,000 ID
$20,661,000 and the tax rate
from $1.87 to 95 cents.
A horizontal cut Of 25 per cent
ordered last year by the board of
county commissioners represents
most of the valuation reduction
this alone effecting a tremen-
dous saving to taxpayers-while
the remainder was due to natural
shrinkage in property values
caused largely by the economic
depression. In the fcur-year Pc
Rod the county board took about
20 cents off the tax rate while the
remainder is credited to the
states action in taking over the
entire cost Of operating schools
and roads. How the assessed val
uation, countrywide tax rate and
countrywide ad valorem levy have
dropped in the last few years is
revealed in the following table:
Year Val. Rate Levy
1929 $2s,694,000 $1.87 $536,587
1880 28,343,00O 1.67 437,324
1881 27,352,00O 1.15 314,56O
1882 26,848,00O .95 255,056
1888 20,661,00 .95 196,2S0
When the present administra-
ton took office, all the banks in
Hendersonville had closed, tying
up all the funds of the county, go
that in order to meet current ex-
penses it was necessary to issue
script. Only a very small dividend
has been paid on the funds which
the county had deposited in the.
banks, and as q consequence it
has been necessary for the county
to rely almost wholly upon tax
collections to meet enormous cur
rent obligations. In the face Of
this situation, no new debt has
been created since 1880, the COM
missioners steadfastly refusing to
obligate the county for even what
sometimes appeared to be urgent
needs. The board has, on the
other hand, applied all money
available to the payment of debts,
thereby helping to reduce the tax
rate. The following indebtedness
has been paid off:
All bills, hold-over and cur
rent, paid at maturity, includ-
ing juror and witness fees,
school salaries for which the
county was responsible, and all
other similar claims. (Included
was approximately $4,000 Of
open accounts which the pres
ent administration inherited.l
Bonds in the principal sum
of $3.50, 1000, paid in full, at an
average rate of per cent in
terest, an annual saving of in
terest amounting to $11, 500, so
that the county owes today
nearly 100000 less than it did
four years ago.
/. Besides meeting these obliga-
tions, the county board in the
fiscal years 1892 and 1888 ex-
changed about $255,000 of bond
maturities for new bonds that will
not mature until 1869 and 1860
when no other county bonds are