St. Paul daily globe., 1888-08-12
SCARED BY A SHADOW.
C. A. Nimccks Unveils HIS Report on
City Finances.
REPLY OF MR.. HOLBROOK.
& Roast on Municipal and County Ex-
travagance---Nimoc Plan
for Relief.


school yesterday morning on the SUBJ
Ject of "City Expenditures" in which
Charles A. Nimocks posed as reformer
of eXtravagant expenditures, and Comp
troller Holbrook appeared as caller
down-in-chiet. Mr.. NimockS has as
serted that the city finances are reck-
iessly and eXtravagantly squandered,
and submitted long report in sup
port of it. This report he gave out
for publication in advance of its
receipt by the board, which was de-
nounced by Judge Atwater as gross dis
ecourtesy. Mr.. Nimocks concluded his
report with lot of very sensible sug-
geStions, but his facts and figures were
very crudely and lllOgically put to-
gether. First of all came statement,
in detail, of the city expenses for the
past year, amounting to $4,374, ,52O.9l,
and Institutes a comparison with
1884. showing very large decrease.
Taking Detroit as a city of the same
size, he shows how much less the taxes
are there. His statement made the
bonded debt of the city 81, $50, 800, which
was afterward shown to be incorrect.
County affairs were also severely criti-
ciZed, and county expenses for 1887 were
shown to have been $542, 242. .25, making
the whole expenses for city and
county S4,717,9 ,941.19. He thought the
assessed valuation for state purposes
was out of all proportion and thus Hen
nepin bore more than its share of the
burden of state expenses. It's time, he
said, for taxpayers to pause and think
how these immense expenditures will
affect our city. l do not hold either po-
litical party responsible, for l think that
neither party Will approve of it. The
past few years have been years of
uneXampled prosperity. Money has
been made easily 10y our citizens
and expenditures have not been prop
erly considered. There seems to have
been a studied effort on the part Of our
aldermen 10 see which one could get the
most money to spend in his special
ward. Water mains have been extended
into the woods and out on the prairie,
and the supervisor informs me that
there are miles of pipe without tap;
and street lights are extended from
near Fort Smelling to AnOka, and st.
Paul to Richfeld.
have been asked what would do to
bring about change. First, L would
appoint a strong committee of taXpay
erS to visit st. Paul when the state
board of equalization meet, and have
the county valuation cut down at least
% per cent. | would have both political
parties nominate only such men to fill
our Offices as are pledged to do all in
their power to bring about reform.
| would require every candidate for
any state, county or city Office or for the
state legislature, to sign an agreement
TO this effect before he should receive
nomination, and if he succeeded in
getting it without, by packing caucus.
/ would follow him up at the polls and
defeat his election. / would require all
political parties to place in their plat
form plank pledging the party to re-
ductiOn of expenditures.
| would nominate three aldermen
from each ward at the city convention.
If this cannot be done inside of party
1ineS,I would form party whose plat
form would be retrenchment, reform
taxpayer to contribute 25per cent of the
amount of his taxes last year to cam
paign fund, and | would carry the cleo
ton at all hazards. 1T is sad COM
mentary on American politics, but
money must be used and used freely,
and the same tactics adopted that the
politician adopts.
Then came a scorching review of the
heavy salaries and fees paid various
city and county officers. and the speaker
lnveighed against the principle of paving
streets before all connections are made
and of granting valuable franchises that
did not in time bring in revenue to the
city. The report cOncluded:
We are about to enter upon cam
paign of unusual importance, in which
we shall elect men to fill all state,
county and city offices. Though this is
not political body, it comes within the
province of this board to use every
means within its power to continue the
prosperity of the city, and it can only
be done by reduced taxation and care
ful management of its affairs. 1t is for
the interest of taxpayers and every
good citizen to give this matter their
special attention, and | hope that every
business man AMI every laboring man
will join with us in bringing about this
result.
Comptroller HOlbrook said he was not
prepared to answer the entire report on
such short notice, but he corrected the
bond figures showing the total to be So
249, 800. On the present amount the 5
per cent limit would be S6,900,0 600, leav-
ing margin of Sl,650,000 on the safety
side. He also showed many inaccura-
cies in the Nimocks report, amounting
10 nearly a million dollars, the
COlip pIltI HdhulS CIldSeu DIS eS-
penditureS amounts that were
merely transferred among funds.
During the same year the amount in
the sinking fund had increased during
the year S99,415. Park bonds had sold
in January, 1887, for 1887 and in De-
cember of the same year in exchange
for land at par. City 4 per cent bonds
sold in July, 1856. for 101 26-100 and in
December for 100 16-100. During 1887
they ranged from par to 81, county AZ
per cents had sold for 101, and par and
per cents for % and 81. Capitalists re-
garded county bonds with no debts as
equal to city bonds at discount with a
debt. st. Paul had only secured trifle
above par for its AZ per cent bonds. 1t
was also shown that all securities were
deprecated by the current closeness of
the money market. B. F. Nelson
showed an error of $500, 600 in the MINI
ocks statement. The board discussed
the matter at great length, and finally a
committee of three was appointed
to confer with Messrs. Holbrook and
NimockS and prepare a statement for
publication. j. B. Bassett offered a
resolution setting forth that, whereas
Minneapolis was assessed So, ,00O, 900
more than st. Paul and the values were
really about the same, the board of
equalization be requested to reduce the
assessment that amount. The allusion
to st. Paul was stricken out and the