Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-08-08
GETTING DOWN 10
THE WHOLE TRUTH
on NOTHING

nave as a Tult lOohoS
to taxpayers associations to lead
them out OF the wilderness" Of bur
densome government costs and con
fiscated property. Too many times
however, these same taxpayers. al
ter blindly following the leadership
of ambitious critics. wake up to find
that the socalled associations"
have been nothing o than q
group of figure jugglers, experts at
painting pictures of waste and ex.
travagance In such a way as to
arouse a group OF voters and build
a political machine destined to pile
greater costs on the very same tax
payers they proposed 81 mercifully
to save.
A point in question right now Is
the publication last week of an ar
ticle under the caption, Tax Trends
in the Treasure State" In the Great
Falls Tribune, depicting the "hor-
rible' condition OF Sheridan county
Had the figures quoted in the article
been used to set forth a true pic
ture of the county's indebtedness
and expense Of administration. some
credit could be given to the group
which sponsored II, but for any or
ganizaticn to use figures in such a
distorted manner is both an injustice
to those who have been responsible
for the county's administration and
every property owner within its
borders; and to permit such a set of
statements to go unchallenged Is
but to encourage further misleading
of our own taxpayers. Let us ex-
anime sOme of these statements.
80
First, a table OF expenditures set
ting forth the taxable value in the
county, total levy in mills, the levy
for the general fund and the total
levy in dollars is given. This shows
the taxable value of property In
Sheridan county to have dropped
from $12. 000, 900 in 1916 to approx
inlately $5,OOO.OOO in 1884. Anyone.
even to a child mind, would i'm
mediately realize that to approach
the same amount OF receipts the
levy in mills would have to be more
than double that OF 1916. But that
is not all; in 1915 levies were made
on the basis Of the full valuation, or
100 percent, rather than assessed
valuation" under which we now
work. This OF course also serve to
increase the levy In mills.
But here Is not the worst offense
committed by these figure Jug
glers." They inform the reader that
the general fund is that from
which to base the administrative"
or operating costs Of county gov
eminent. Then they proceed to
set forth the increasing costs in lad
ministrative" expense since 1916
not in dollars, but in MILLS. Had
these experts" wanted to, they
could have given these costs in dol
lars and cents. Yes, they could
have shown for the benefit of all
who read the article that the AID
MINISTRATTVE costs (that Is, the
cost OF operating the several ~offices)
had been steadily lowered since
1924, 1925 and 1926, which were the
highest in the county's history, until
In 1884 the total for operation of all
offices was $45,938-a reduction OF
40 per cent for the taxpayers! Yes,
and they might have called atten-
ton to the fact that higher leviee
were made necessary for 1929 and
1880 because Of the fact that attor-
neys' fees for protecting the taxpay-
ers in the celebrated 500, 900 treas
ury robbery case and the Bieseker
bank cases was charged to the coun-
ty commissioners and county attor-
$4,000 alone!
The author OF the publicity ar
ticle, writing for the Montana Tax
payers association, could have told
the taxpayers that the clerk and re-
corder, treasurer, assessor, clerk OF
court, sheriff, county attorney, and
superintendent OF schools, spent
less money in running their offices
during the last biennium with heav-
Ter duties to perf0rm) than In any
previous two-year period since the
county was organized. Yet, the tax
expert" has the Iboldness to sug-
gest that 'fSheridan's governmental
costs must be lowered so as not to
absorb too high a part OF the earn
ings OF the average taxpayer" We
believe In criticism where critic
ism Is due, but for that group of Of
flee holders in Sheridan county who
have consistently lowered the cost
Of operating their Offices every year
until they are now costing the tax
payers less than in any previous
period, we believe there should be
nothing but the highest OF praise.
The Herald Is OF the opinion that
never will taxpayers oe able to get
more for their tax dollar In actual
administrative efficiency than they
have gotten during the past two
years.
Let us take a rough glance at our
financial status as a county. We
have a bonded indebtedness today
Of $5O4, 900, and against this in cash
in the sinking fund, Is $110, 900.
which would reduce the net bonded
debt to $4,000. Then there are
outstanding warrants of sos, 900,
making the total Indebtedness $780,
900. Against this there are delin-
quent taxes OF $495,0O0 Granting
that much OF these delinquent taxes
may never be paid, suppose only
$500. 900 Is eventually paid. This
would leave a net indebtedness OF
only $4,000 with probably twenty
years to pay 1t In. If every business,
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