Daily Kennebec Journal

Regarding Bridge Legislation

Donigan and Chase Bills.

State Highway Commissioner Favors Standard Board On Tax Rate.

Much interest is being manifested throughout the State in regard to the proposed bridge legislation, which is now before the present session of the Legislature. For the last four sessions of the Legislature some form of a bill providing for State aid in the building maintenance of bridges has been brought up for consideration and although the present session is but three weeks advanced there are already two bridge bills, which have been presented, one in the Senate introduced by Senator Donigan of Somerset and the other in the House by Representative Chase of Sebec. Although the bills have the same end in view, aid to towns in the maintenance of highway bridges, they are radically different in their nature.

The Donigan bill as presented in its original draft was practically the same as that introduced by Mr. Donigan when he was in the House two years ago. The original draft of the bill presented in the Senate this session provided that the State take over all bridges 50 feet in length and longer; all new bridges to be built by the county commissioners of each county, the expense to be borne equally by the town or city, the county or the State, and the State to pay all the cost of maintenance. After discussing the bill with the committee on ways and bridges last Thursday Senator Donigan decided to present his bill in a new form before the Senate, which was done Friday.

The principal changes made in the new draft are: The elimination of railroad bridges from those, taken over by the State, which was an error which crept into the first draft, where "roadway bridges" were undoubtedly meant by the framer of the bill: the provision that bridges of 40 feet in length instead of 50 feet be taken over: the change of the section providing for maintenance of bridges by the State So that the new draft of the bill provides that the town or city, the county and the State will each pay one-third of the cost of maintenance.

The Donigan bill in its original draft would have included, it is learned from figures in the office of the highway department, 695 bridges of these now constructed in the State, while as there are in the State 266 bridges between 40 and 50 feet in length, the bill in its new draft would affect altogether 961 highway bridges.

Friday morning in the House another bridge bill was introduced. This bill was drafted in the office of the State highway commissioner and was presented by Representative Chase of Sebec. The Chase bill differs in many respects from the Donigan bill and makes the standard by which it shall be determined when aid shall be paid to the towns the proportional amount which the town pays for highway taxes. Section 1 of the proposed act is as follows:

When public convenience and necessity require the building or rebuilding of any bridge in any town, said bridge being located on any main thoroughfare, the cost of said construction, together with all other moneys raised for the construction and repairs of ways, highways and bridges in said town makes a tax rate in excess of four mills on the valuation of the town last made by the Board of State Assessors two-thirds of the cost of construction of said bridge shall be borne as follows: One-third by the county in which the town is located and one-third by the State.

In Section 2 of the Chase bill the municipal officers, together with the county commissioners and the State commissioner of highways are constituted a board to determine the necessity of building or rebuilding bridges, which come under the scope of the act, also the form of construction.

Section 3 is as follows: If the board

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