CHAPTER 1

STATE AND LOCAL EXPENDITURES

’ ‘HE investigator who desires to ascertain the cost of
state and local government in any state is in most cases
confronted with the fact that complete statistical information
 is not available. Ample data on the expenditures
of the state governments are readily obtainable, but in the
case of the minor jurisdictions it is frequently found that
the necessary data concerning the amounts expended for
certain governmental functions have not been compiled,
and that the records of many governmental units are not
kept in such a manner that they can be used for purpose of
statistical analysis. In the majority of states no state agency
is specifically charged with the task of compiling data for
the expenditures of the local governments. There appears
to be an insufficient appreciation of the significance of such
data on the part of legislative bodies. State officials in many
instances have requested appropriations for the purpose of
compiling complete local data, only to have their requests
refused. Comparatively few states are in a position to furnish
 complete statistics concerning the cost of local government,
 and unfortunately Missouri is not one of them.
Several federal agencies, however, have been active in
overcoming the dearth in local governmental statistics. As
a result of their work information is available concerning the
expenditures of all cities having a population of more than
30,000 and the expenditures of all minor divisions for road
and school purposes, which are the two most important
functions of local government, judged from the standpoint
of amounts expended. In the case of Missouri the principal
difficulty is in ascertaining the amounts expended for functions
 other than roads and schools. It is true that the expenditures
 for the latter functions comprise a large part of
the total, but the absence of definite information for certain
other functions precludes the possibility of complete analysis.
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