The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-03-06
MUNICIPAL MATTERS.
The Mayors Report of the Past Years
Administration.

Administration.
III the honorable City Council.
1 have the honor to submit herewith my
renort enclosing the annual report OF the
Suner;ntendent of the Water Works, the
City Engineer, the Chief Engineer of the
Fire Department, and the City Marshal.
CITY CLERKS OFFICE.
For the first time, for at least fifteen
years. the city has complete and accur.
ate set Of account books. The errors in
the old books-hundreds in number, have
been listed and corrected as far as possible
and new books opened with correct bal
aDces A monthly balance book has been
carried through the year, A system OF
checks bv means of numbers has been es-
tablished between the warrants as ordered
by the City Council, and as issued by the
Mayor and Clerk. Prior to the year 1876,
it was immpossible to accurately audit the
accounts of the City Clerk. The Clerk
could have defrauded the city out of thou
sands of dollars annually without the posi-
bility of detection by his books.
There is no existing record of the bonds
which the city had issued prior to the date
of the water works bonds. There are but
| few domestic bonds now outstanding, and
the register of those was made, not from
the books but from the coupons as paid
! bv the Treasurer. In 1875 what appeared
to be the last coupons Of an issue of $50, :
| 600 of domestic bonds of the city were paid
| by the Treasurer, and no register of their
| issue could be found in the Clerks office.
| suppose the preceding nine coupons had
been paid without being compared with
the city books. Having given during the
past four years, a great deal of care to
these matters, now refer to them to I'M
| press upon those less familiar with them,
the urgent necessity for keeping accurate
and regular books Ii the city has suffered
no loss through this channel it has been
due to the honesty of the City Clerks, but
the existence of such state of things does
not speak we'll for their competency. A
city clerk should submit his trial balance
monthly to the Committee on Finance.
| Every voucher paid by the city should
be mum bered. and the same number car
ried to the warrant which pays it, and to
the ordinance directing its payment. These
vouchers and warrants should be preserv-
ed, and both should be checked by the
| Commute on Finance at the close Of the
year and filed. Every paid coupon should
be so checked with the register and filed,
The correction of the old books and the
accuracy Of the new ones has been due to
the intelligent labors Of the City Clerk
John L. Reed, who was appointed with
this special object.
THE CITY DEBT.
The city owes water works bonds, do
nestle bonds, funding bonds, and interes
bearing warrants.
The water works bonds were issued t
build the works and bear and 10 pei
cent. interest with lilo of the principa
payable annually. They were issued to pay
) for bridges and other property and will
I the intention of paying the principal IL
annual iDstallments. They have been 81
} paid but the money has been borrowed OF
) interest bearing warrants When take
were low and expenses high, money ha
: been borrowed on suclFwarrauts to pay tn
: corresponding deficiency and in this man
; known on the books as orders issued. |
was in various amounts from $50 to SO.
, 900 at 10 per cent. interest. The interes
or principal of some of these orders wer
\ demanded daily by the holders and wer
! paid under the general authority of tn
:, Council, and money, under the sam
general authority was borrowed wheneve
it was needed, This money went into tn
general fund and all payments for ever
purpose were made from this fund, Th
/, books showed no record for the time fl
= payment Of either principal or interest an
:, it became possible to inteliigentiy provid
for the coming wants of the city or
1 determine before the close of the yea
d whether the orders issued account wa
d increasing or not unless the Increment {
4 decrement we're very large.
For years the management of thes
. matters has been practically in the hanC
i of the Mayor, who could increase the del
IS indefinitely, the annual financial statemel
being the only positive information to tt
- Council and the city and even to the May
. aud Clerk.
L. To stop the growth of their debt aud
10 lessen the burden of interest, the CJunc
3 decided upon the issue of $4,000 of
~ per cent, funding bonds to pay the interes
d bearing orders, the domestic bonds an
Q any other outstanding obligations. A
70 election was held and the people by lart
majority authorized the issue. On Mare
~ lEt, 1878, $l03,500 of these bonds ha,
. been sold, the net proceeds being $9S, OF
% all of which has been used to pay II
y interest bearing orders and domest
, bonds, as will be seen by the Treasurer
~ report The entire issue would probab
DO have been disposed of before March Is
10 netting to the city 933 per cent. of the
face value. had it not been for the premG
ture and unwise agitation and public di
cussion of the matter.
g The doubts publicly cast upon the lega
Is ity of the bonds have struck blow {
2 them from which / think they will n
easily recover. So far as ] have BET
V able to discover, the city pays less ra
of interest on the money obtained
rs the sale of these bonds than is pa
g by any city in the West of Il
same size. The rate 6.42 per cent is abo,
- per cent less than the average ofthe wa
= er works bonds. If the remainder of tn
o bonds should be sold at the same rate, IL
0 annual saving the city will make by Il
issue is S., $50.
Assuming that this sale will be mad
e submit for your information and that
= the city the following statement of tt
@ probable receipts and disbursements f.
q the coming year. The expenses are take
as the same in the past year.
70 Estimated expenses for the year endir
}, March /, 1869:
- Interest. $3.50. $20,4
~ briages. .,...-......'.'...'...., ~
Police Observation-Disclosures. so