Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-04-06
THE CITY
Nessing Of ibe General eouRell-Nsssage
from the MsySr-eSnplrsllsf's RspsFt

At a meeting of the General Council,
/ held last evening, the following message
from Mayor Johnson, upon the financial
4 condition of the city, was read and re-
fsrred to the eppropTiate committee OF
either Board:
MAYORS OFFICE, CITY HALL,
MEMPHIS, April 8. 1871.
] To the Honorable, the General Council of
the City of Memphis;
Genaemen-I submit for your examine
| lion the ACCOMMODATING statements OF the
/ financial condition of the city, made up 70
/ April 1, 1871. The short time between
I which they are made up to and the meet
4 ing of the General Council, prevents me
at this time from more than inviting your
careful attention to them, from which 1t
/ viii be seen that while our financial con-
1 dition is much better than it was January
I ], 1870, we still have a great deal 10 do TO
arrive at q really sound cash basis. The
amount of past due or loating debt pro-
Yided for and to be provided for during
the past and present year, as shown by
statement No. 1, is 81, ,04l, ,98l 81. OF this, as
| viii be seon by statement No. 2, there has
! been taken up to date, $534 250 So Of this
amount, as VIII be seen by statement
number three, S353, ,250 58 has been actu-
ally paid of and discharged IS debt
against the city, and 4lSI 900 has been
funded into ike amount Of the funding
bonds of 1870, and thereby extended for q
period of thirty years.
The present due or floating debt to be
provided for as shown by statement num-
| Der four, is S5O7, ,7SO SO, against which We
have estimated as available for the pay
ment of the floating or past due debt
S377, ,985 20, as showed In statement num-
b6r i've, leaving balance Of Sl29,7 70 to
be funded into the funding bonds Of
1870" as authorized for the settlement of
4 IL . a.
now considered IS available S244, ,l6l 70, as
shown in statement number six.
The amount OF our bonded debt,
as shown in the bond statement,
number is OF ten per cent. currency,
$50 030; of @ per cent. currency, s., ,546 900;
| of 6 par cent. gold, ls2, 900 Making a to-
| tai outstanding Of S3, ,753, COO, from which
there should be deducted the amount of
| bonds due by the purchasers of the citY's
stock in the M. & G. r, r. Co., SPA 600;
| and also the amount Of bonds loaned TO T.
E. Brown s. Co, S240, coo, which we hope
20 recover, and 81, 900 OF bonds put out as
c0llsterals by the previous sdministrs-
ton, which will be taken up and are not
/ as vet, properly a debt against the city.
These three items, making together the
sum of S409 O0O-it deducted from the S.,
| 753 600 asabOY5, leaves the actual amount
Of bonds, 70 be paid by the city, IS, ,254, ,OC0.
The $500, 900 Of the bends of the Mem
phis and Little, Rock railroad, Endorsed by
the city, and for which the Navy Yard is
mortgaged, / have not included in the
liabilities Of the city beyond the mortgage
upon the nRvy-ysrd prOperty-as I do
not consider the city in any way bound
for the payment of these bonds beyond
that property, if indeed that is bound, as
I can find no authority authorizing the
city 10 indorse the bonds of said railroad
company, or any other parties bonds,
#T, hnr Of nnT
lature, or a vote of the qualified voters of
the city, authorizing such Endorsement. !
And as no such authority has ever been /
granted to the city by the Legislature, /
nor has any vote Of the qualified voters OF |
the city Of Memphis ever been taken on /
the question Of indorsing said bonds, /
think there can be no doubt as to the |
correctness of my conclusions.
The amount collected in cash on account |
of interest to date is Sl36, ,456 90, Of which |
there has been paid interest coupons, due |
January /, 1871, to date, S9S, ,3S5; leaving |
balance on hand toward the interest ma !
turing OF S3S,G7l So, TO which, if we add |
the balance of assessment for interest for |
1870, now past due and unpaid (Sl02 593 Oh |
and the amount due by and to become |
due July 1, 1871, by the purchasers Of the /
stock of the city in the Memphis and |
Charleston Railroad Company ($lS, ,S60) we |
have Sl54, ,524 81 with which to meet the
interest maturing the cnrrent year. The |
amount of which is due and to become /
due during the year 1871 is as follows; !
Balance Of January, 1871, cur
rsncy, interest .........,..... 9S35
Gold interest on Sls2, eco, Nay 1,
1871 ........ B 460
Currency interest, July !, ISL. 107, ,ISO |
mated on $256. .Ooo.....,..........,.'.. 1880
-
Making total Of. ........... S129, ,975
of interest to be provided for during the
remainder OF the year, which, II deducted
from the Sl54,524 81, as above, leaves q /
balance or surplus of S24,549 81.
From this It can D6 seen at a glance that |
If we can bat collect the taxes as levied /
for this purpose within a reasonable time, |
there need Ce no failUre in meeting our
interest as il natures, and by so doing es-
tablish q value for our bonds in this mar
keJ much above their present low price, |
and something nearer the real value.
The necessarily high rate Of tax for in
terest makes it imperative upon US to
levy the tax at the present time for gem
eral city purposes at q rate much lower |
than for some years past.
This, with the falling of in privilege |
taxes and other items of income, will pre- |
vent us from undertaking any cash obli- |
cations but the most necessary repairs |
and current expenses, leaving all new
work. from she construction of which |
no revenue would be derived, to /
reimburse the city for the out |
lay until such time as we
can enforce the collection of the large /
amounts of past due taxes and other |
items Of Indebtedness due the city, and /
thereby pay of and discharge the present /
still large due debt.
For these reasons, while there are many
new and much needed improvements (but |
not of the 6lass above referred tOl, ! can |
not at this time recommend the under |
taking of any Of them But, upon the /
contrary, would recommend the most |
rigid economy in all of the departments |
Of the city government for the remainder !
of the corporate year.
Respectfully submitted.
JOHN JOHNSON. Mayor,
Received and ordered published by the |
Council April 5, 1871, and their action ap- |
proved by the Board of Aldermen, April |
8 1871,
We omit to-day the tabular statement !
referred to in the above message, bat will |
give il tomorrow.
The following report from the Comp |
troller exhibits the present condition Of |
the city hnan5es
CoMPFROLLERs OFFICE,
MEMPHIS, April 8, 1871. |
To the Honorable General Council:
The following is my report for the /
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