The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-01-13
Our Financial Slough.

The report of the City Appraiser, MIR. P.
J. Coogan, submitted at the last meeting OF
the City Council, has again directed public
attention to the magnitude OF the city debt,
and to the necessity of adopting just and
practicable plan by which the interest may
be regularly paid and the principal gradual
ly extinguished.
The assessed value OF oil the real estate in
the City of Charleston, (omittiug the real es-
tate valued at So, ,625, 620, exempt from tax
ation,) is set down by Mr.. Coogan at s22,-
e35, $40. The value of the personal property
is stated to be 50, ,l95, ,92s. The total value
of the taxable real and personal property is,
therefore, s32, l3l, AT. The presentincome OF
the city consists of two per cent. tax upon
the real aud personal property, which should
produce S642, 629 81; the license tax, esti-'
mated to produce sl26,3O4 IS; and the tax
on city stock, s5l,372 Os, making total
revenue OF $500, ,3O6 20.
The debt of the city amounts to SIS, 49,
POS, against which may be set the market
value OF tie different securities held by the
city, put down, in May last at s246,997 &c
The interest on the debt during the year
1870 amounted to $500, 900, and the general
expenses amounted to $449, 900, making a
total expenditure Of s769,ooO. 1t is evident,
then, that the present rate OF taxation is
amply sufficient for the payment of interest
and current expenses. The most trouble
some element in the financial problem re-
mains behind. Under the plan Of rearrange-
meut of the city debt, adopted in 1857, the
debt falls due in annual instalmeuts. Ac-
cording to MIR. Coogan's elaborate table, an
amount OF 1885, 154 falls due by the end OF
the present year. The following year is
charged with S72,O3O; 1873 with slOl,476; ;
1874 with slO0, $50; 1875 With 5000, 24s;
aud amounts of stock ranging from s6S, ,436
to s437, ,4SO, become payable each year, Tex
cepting 1894 aud 1857 from 1875 to 1895,
when the last instalment is to be paid. The
holders of certain overdue stock instituted
legal proceedings last year against the city
to compel its payment, and succeeded in
bringing to the hammer some OF the city pro-
perty. A similar course will most likely be
taken by other holders when their stock falls
due. 1t is necessary, therefore, to provide
for the payment of the several instalments
OF the principal of the debt, as we'll as for the
interest and the current expenses OF the mu-
nicipal government. But the city cannot, i'll
its present depressed condition, bear such u
rate of taxation as would produce, during
each year, sum sufficient to meet all these
claims. 1t can pay interest and current ex-
penses, but it can do no more. What, then,
must be done?
Various plans for renewing or extending
the city debt, 80 as to give us breathing
time, have been proposed, and these are
glanced at by Mr.. Ceogan, who concludes
his remarks upon this branch Of the subject
with the assertion that plan exists by
which the debt can be paid of, in full, in
twenty-five years, with saving to the city,
in that time, of 81, ,566,l5 10. A more
hopeful and encouraging statement was
never laid before an over-taxed people.
Mr.. Coogan, if he can make good his
his promise, m,ly write himself down
a public benefactor, and will deserve mon
ument more durable than brass. The plan,
as we understand it, is this: The present
market price of city stock, S2,s27, S75,
would buy up the whole city debt; or, de-
Quoting such amount of stock as might be
purchased with the proceeds Of sale Of the
city assets, sum OF s2,5Os. $50 would be
enough. MIR. Coogan, therefore, proposes
to issue city bonds, bearing per cent. in-
terest, to the amount OF s2,5OS, $50, the
bonds falling due in amounts ranging from
$4,000 to $4,000, distributed over q
period of twenty-five years. With the
81, 5O8, $50 so obtained, the whole of the city