Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-03-24
COMPLETE EXHIBIT
OF WHEELING FINANCES OVER A GENERATION
ago.
A Debt Summary to Make Taxpayers Hair Curl
Some Very Interesting Local
Statistics.
While rumaeing through some mnst.

While rumaging through some musty
old documents, at the City Hall, day
OF two ago, City Clerk Thoner turned
.up a faded and worn little pamphlet
about BIG inches in size and containing
eighteen pages. The title-page showed
10 20 be- the "Twcnty-frSt Annual State.
ment of Receipts and Expenditures of
the City of Wheeling for the year ending
January /. 1857" The matters dealt
with were thus thirty-four years Old
and the facts and figures contained in
the exhibit were 50 interesting that a
REGISTER reporter was moved To make
some extracts for the cdiicatiOn of
a generation which has been born,
grown 20 manhood and woman
hood. and almost grown old since the
statistics were compiled When con-
traSted with the last city statement. is
sued at the beginning of the present
year by Clerk ThOner. the pamphlets
contents present some strange con-
traStS. not only as 90 the various items
given 20 make up the city'S receipts
and expenditures. but as well i'm the
matter of public debt. which i'm 1876 had
reached total of nearly Sl.50O,O 600.
or about two and one-half times the
present debt. AT the time of the COM
pilati0n of the 1856 statement,
George w. Sights was Clerk of the city,
and MessrS. +. II. Fitzhugh and d. C..
List were the Finance Committee.
The first two pages of the report are
devoted 10 the receipts of the city for
1886. The tax levy brought i'm S7l.O49.-
3S. or very nearly the amount of the
present 5O-ccnt levy. which augurS a
high tax rate. as the valuation could
not have been half what il is at present.
The receipts for water rents are given
as S35.2617O. of which S2l.4OO.13 was
for 1886. and Sl3, S67.57 for delinquin-
cieS Of former years. WharveS brought
I'm -. 80. considerably more than
at preScnt-markctS 3,44S.S0, about
one-Jhird of the present income.
and railroad dividends and interest
on stock" was credited with $4,000.
The revenue from licenses was Sl0.4l3.-
3d. less than one-fOurth the present in
come from that source. and of this
sum OrdinaricS brought in SS4,4S3.S7.
and coffee houses. of which there We're
two classes. S5.395.99. Merchants paid
"a special taxes footing up S2.O54.90, and
wheeled carriages. shows, etc. a total
of ~ 5000. The total receipts from
AN sources for the year 1856 were sl7G,-
9l9Sg.
The expenditures were l76.695.S5.
leaving cash balance of S223.G2 on
hand. al the end of the year. OF the
expenditures. Sf.63O.1S was for street
repairs and salary OF superintendent
Henry Sharp and j. Amick. The Water
Works took SlS.179.20. bridges, SS5S.-
94. of which sum 500 was for
the wire suspension bridge over
the creek at Market street; fire depart
mcut. SL2Q5.Gj: railroad interest.
~2O.755.5O: loans. SlO7,324.75, of which
big sum. S57.599.46 was for the single
item of interest; markets. Sl.239.j2:
lights. S3.32O.4l; police, Si.S26.20; mis-
cellancOuS. Sl.SS1.l7. and salaries and
Sundry accounts the remainder Among
the expenditures is S532.5O for coal
banks" These were the days when the
Coal Bank Committee had something To
do.
But interest increases as the debt
statement is struck. That is something
to make the average citizen Shudder.
The total debt is given as Sl.473.S74.10.
"a reduction of S34.9O3.67 during the
wear. OF this total. 100000 was b. ~
O. bonds. S25O.OOO Marietta X Cncin-
matt bonds. $3.50, 900 Hempheld bonds,
and $50. 900 Cleveland Il PittSburg bonds,
these items alone footing up Sl.O5O,OOO.
The latter half of the book is devoted
To- the report of MessrS. List and Fritz
hugh. the Finance Committee. After
figuring the city debt at SL473.S74.10,
as above stated. the Committee give the
city'> assets. as follows:
Railroad stocks including s5.12j
Wheeling ~ Belmont Bridge e.. eil,a.'-'o
Second Fourth and Fifth ward mar