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Show The latest from the hunting grounds and the election returns, is that deer and Democrats were never more plentiful in Maine. its destruction, the worst that can its destruction, the korst that can happen to us is being struck by a falling officeholder. A 20-carat diamond was found in a piece of the great metorite that fell to earth in Arizona, and formed Meteor Crater. The moon is approximately 240,- 000 miles from the earth, a short distance as astronomers view .things. aid projects to cooperate in the cost of betterments throughout the State road system, and finally in January, 1933, assumed all nnan-clal nnan-clal responsibility other than the legal requirement that the counties f -rnlsh rights of way, which re quirement was removed by the legislature during the same year Financial responsibility (cooperation) (coopera-tion) on the part of the counties is now limited to paying their obligations ob-ligations contracted prior to 1933 However, county cooperation in State road work continues to be 1931S3lTe' (Chapter 103. Laws of Beginning in 1938 the status of State-county financial cooperation was reversed and a definite pro-gram pro-gram of State-aid inaugurated JH'?? an annua' appropriation of . $800,000 from the motor vehicle registration fund (Chapter 162 Laws of 1937) to counties and cities' for highway purposes. This distinctly dis-tinctly new development was made possible through the retirement of State road bond issues on schedule and the consequent release of rev-enues rev-enues in the motor vehicle reglstrn- History of the jate Road Commission of Utah 1909 - 1939 B h. V. RICHARDS, Statistical Engineer (Continuation) Counties From fo0,eni(ion ... Beginning In 1914 the receipts JL the gasoline tax have gradual-h gradual-h relieved the counties from their -ancial responsibility and rather a result of administrative procure pro-cure on the part of the road -mission than in consequence of S tive enactment. In 1924 the mission assumed fifty percent , the maintenance costs of Stale ',ds and in 1926 took over the tire responsibility for mainten- ce In 1927 the commission began assist the counties of low as-Z.sei as-Z.sei valuation in the local share Jj instruction costs on Federal- the local authority. The commission commis-sion furnishes standard plans and specifications and other engineering engineer-ing assistance where desired. An accounting system has been provided pro-vided for the use of the local units in making return on expenditures for Clnss "B" and "C" roads. Payments Pay-ments for work performed or materials ma-terials purchased are identified by warrant number and date, classified classi-fied under engineering, construction, construc-tion, maintenance and major equipment. equip-ment. Description and name of road is required and a description of the particular activity or purpose pur-pose for which the expenditure is made. Where roads are constructed by the commission off the State road system, with use of Federal funds a cooperative agreement is likewise like-wise entered into with the local authority, setting forth the amount, if any. contributed by the local authority; au-thority; that all rights of way required will be paid for by the local authority and that it will maintain the project satisfactorily after its completion. Federal Participation The Federal assistance which Utah enjoys, in Improving the condition con-dition of its highways and in building build-ing new motorways for the purpose of developing the State's scenic resources, may be divided into two principal classifications. Under the first are included funds expended directly by various agencies of the Federal government, with or without with-out award of contract and often without State or local cooperation. Such agencies are the Forest Service, Serv-ice, the National Pnrks Service, the W P A . the f!. fT (V nnrt ner. fiscal year to date; Table A includes in-cludes the payments received by Utah in each calendar year. Projects Pro-jects were limited to roads on which the mails were carried, and payments to fifty percent of cost but not to exceed $10,000 per mile of construction, exclusive of bridges over 20-foot span. Projects in cities of over 2.500 population could not be approved for participation in costs. This original act did not provide for a correlated federal aid system of roads. The limitation limita-tion of participation to $10,000 per mile was revised by the act of 1919 to $20,000 per mile, that Is to 50 percent of projects costing not to exceed $40,000 per mile exclusive exclu-sive of bridges over 20-foot spaa. Of more important aid to the West-em West-em States were the provisions of the Federal Highway Act of 1921, which, while retaining the $40,000 per mile maximum, increased the percentage of participation in the Public Domain States (States having hav-ing more than 5 percent of area In unappropriated public land- by one-half one-half of the proportion which such public land bore to the total area of the State. Thus, in Utah, where the public domain equals approximately approxi-mately one-half of the State's area, the ratio of federal participation was raised to about three-fourths of cost within the $40,000 per mile limit. A further notable change in the act of 1921 was the establishment establish-ment of a Federal aid system .of highways, forming a connected system throughout the United States and upon which the Federal funds were to be expended. This I was known as the Seven Percent System, as the maximum mileage thereon in each State was limited tion fund heretofore committed, since 1917, to debt service. Under the acts providing for the administration of this appropria-tion appropria-tion (Chapter 40, Laws of 1937) as ?Sonded by ChaPter , Laws of 1939, the road commission makes the distribution provided by law to counties and cities for expendi- i ture directly by them. State highways high-ways are designated as Class "A" roads and excluded from any al- 1 location of funds and from the ' formula of distribution to county roads, designated as Class "B" roads and city streets, designated as Class "C" roads. Cities of the third class, and towns, may expend their share of funds directly or may arrange to have the expenditure made either by the county or the road commission. Chapter 48, Laws of 1939, above cited, relative to administration of the appropriation to counties and cities amends Chapter 40, Laws of 1937, with respect to basis of apportionment. ap-portionment. The earlier law made, first, an arbitrary division of the appropriation, alloting 70 percent to Class "B" roads and 30 percent to Class "C" roads. The $560,000 thus allocated to the counties was then to be apportioned by the State road commission one third on the basis of population within unincorporated unin-corporated areas, one-third on the basis of county road mileage, and one-third on the basis of losses sustained sus-tained by homestead and personal property tax exemptions, each county to share pro rata in the proportion that its part of the three factors bore to the totals for all the counties. Apportionment to the Class "C" roads of cities was made on the basis of population as determined deter-mined by the latest Federal census. In making the first apportionment, apportion-ment, effective March 1, 1938, two Interpretations of the law were made, as follows: (1) No homestead or personal property tax exemption law having been adopted the allotment to counties was apportioned 50-50 on the basis of the two remaining factors, fac-tors, road mileage and population. (2) In the matter of apportionment apportion-ment to municipalities, consideration considera-tion was given to the potential claims of some forty places incorporated incor-porated since 1930, the date of the latest Federal census, and it was decided to include all such incorporations incor-porations under the Class "B" subdivision sub-division to receive benefits thereunder there-under as county roads. Under the 1939 amendment the apportionment to both Class "B" and Class "C" roads is made forty-five forty-five percent on basis of road mileage, mile-age, forty-five percent on basis of population, and ten percent on basis of area, the unincorporated area of each county and each incorporated in-corporated place receiving its pro rata share on this distribution, the population per the latest Federal ' census continuing to be a govern- lng factor. The amendment is effective ef-fective for annual distributions beginning March 1, 1940. In accordance ac-cordance with the terms of the i original act, the road commission i promulgates rules and regulations ! providiug for uniform accounting J of funds and enters into a coopera- tive agreement with each local authority au-thority restricting the use of funds to highway purposes and citing the I particular purpose and location of i expenditure. No funds are relensed ' until the cooperative agreement ' has been signed and returned by to such percentage of the total road mileage. In Utah all roads were computed in 1921 as comprising compris-ing 24,057 miles and the Federal roads, therefore, as 1684 miles. Provision was made for successive succes-sive increments to the limiting mileage as the Federal roads reached completion to the required standard. In 1922 the limiting total costs per mile on which Federal participation parti-cipation would be computed were reduced to $32,500 with the usual exclusion of bridges and to $30,000 thereafter, but increased to $50,-000 $50,-000 per mile, with some reservations, reserva-tions, in 1930. An act of 1925 provided pro-vided that in computing the percentage of costs applicable to public domain States, untaxed Indian lands should be included with public domain area. (To be continued) ! haps some others. The D. S. Bureau of Public Roads, now named the I Public Roads Administration, administers ad-ministers construction contracts for the Forest Service particularly on a class of roads called Forest Highways which form an intergal part of the State road system, and also for the National Parks Service. The second classification consists of funds used to reimburse the State road commission for construction con-struction work performed under agreements with the Federal Works Agency, through the Public Roads Administration. This second classification, which is the subject of this discussion, is also of two sorts, "regular" and "special" Federal aid; "regular" in the sense of the initial establishment and historically long continuance of the principle of Federal aid to the States on a designated system of Federal aid highways within the State highway system; and "special" "spe-cial" within the meaning of transitory transi-tory or emergency Federal aid or aid for particular purpose, all of comparatively recent derivation, and not confined, necessarily to the Federal aid highways or even to State highways, but all administered adminis-tered through the highway departments depart-ments of the States. Both regular aid and special aids are alike In that their aim and purpose is for highway improvement, never for maintenance, and payment to the States is made as a reimbursement for work performed upon a predetermined pre-determined percentage of the costs incurred, upon predetermined Federal Fed-eral approval of the location, extent ex-tent and character of the work to be done, and finally upon subsequent subse-quent Federal approval of the conformity of the work done to the approved plans and specifications specifica-tions therefor. Federal payments need not await final completion of a project but may be made from time to tlme4 following the State's monthly payments to its contractors. contrac-tors. Costs of rights of way are never eligible for reimbursement, nor are the State's costs for surveys sur-veys and plans except for certain special aids hereinafter described. Regular Aid The first Federal law appropriating appropriat-ing funds to the States for highway construction was the Federal-aid Road Act of 1916. A total of ?76,-000,000 ?76,-000,000 was appropriated, over a period of five fiscal years, and subsequently sub-sequently increased to $275,000,000. The apportionment to each State was one-third on basis of population, popula-tion, one-third on basis of area, and one-third on basis of miles of roads with respect to the ratio of these separate factors in each State to all the States. This method of apportionment ap-portionment of regular aid has con tlnued without change to the present pre-sent time, due allowance being made periodically for variations that may occur in the proportions of road milenge and population. See Table D following for total appropriations ap-propriations and consequent apportionments ap-portionments to Utah for eaoh |