Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-09-26
IN NEED OF CASH.
ANOTHER MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON
FINANCE, LAST EVENING.
Money Provided 10 Meet the Interest on The Electric
Light Bonds, and an Ordinance to Go to
Council This Evsning-Ways and
Means Discussed

There was another very interesting
although not well attended meeting Of
the Council Committee on Finance, last
evening, to discuss the pressing need
Of money for certain departments Of
the city government.
But four members Of the Committee
were present, two Of the absentees be-
ing out of town and two others en-
gagged in private business affairs which
precluded their being present.
The particular matter which called
FOR this meeting Of the Committee was
the necessity Of promptly providing
"a, 800 TO meet the interest on the out
standing S72, 900 CT electric light bonds,
which interest falls due on the first day
OF October next. An ordinance had
been prepared by the City Clerk, taking
S3,34O.S5 OF this sum from the uneX-
pended balance OF stone bridge money,
and 1919. Is from the contingent fund Of
the CITY, and this paper was basis for
a very plain yet broad discussion Of the
city's needs In monetary way.
When the annual appropriation for
the Board Of Gas Trustees was made up,
at the beginning of the present year,
SIS, 600 was set aside for principal and
s.. $50 for interest upon the electric
light bonds, in accordance with the
general agreement entered into between
the Council aud the Electric Light Com
mission and Gas Trustees, when the
electric light was contracted for, and
under which principal and interest was
paid by the Trustees OF the gas works in
1892. When the time approached when
the payment Of these items must be made,
however, the Trustees found they did not
have sufficient available cash to meet
the items, assigning as a reason that
the extraordinary sum OF $4,000 over
and aboYe their receipts for 1898, which
they had asked for, had not been given
them by Council, and thus it happened
that the Committee was suddenly con-
fronted with the problem Of how
to raise the cash last evening. After
sundry consultations between the
Trustees, the Clerk and members Of the
Committee, the money was procured in
the manner stated above, and the Com
mittee recommended the ordinance for
adoption by Council this evening. This
was not done without a decided protest,
however. from at least one member Of
the Committee, who took the stand
that the time had fully come when there
should be a radical overhauling of
CITY financial affairs and an earnest
attempt made to put certain Of the de-
partments upon paying basis. 1t was
unanimously agreed, however, that the
time was a little late for any effective
action this year, nine months of which
has already passed into history, and
with it very large proportion OF the
city revenue for 1898 and that the only
thing TO be done, so far as the present
emergency was concerned, was 10 pass
the ordinance providing for the interest
and pay 1t out to those entitled to it.
This led to the renewal OF the old dis
cussion without action, OF ways and
means to increase the revenues of the
city, and sundry propositions with that
object in view were advanced and
talked over. Especially interesting
was a discussion Of the proposition OF
whether or not existing State laws gave
the city the right to lay separate tnX
for the liquidation Of principal and in
terest Of city loans, above and beyond
the usual fifty cent levy. The law OF
December 4, 1878, provides that no
issue OF bonds shall be made by any
city, town or village without
the laying of special tax sufficient
TO meet the interest and princi
pal of such loan, and the rock upon
which those present at last evenings
meeting split was whether such direct
tax was to be deducted from the fifty
cent levy, beyond which the city cannot
go for general purposes, or whether il
could be laid outside of such levy. The
city has never laid such direct tax,
the revenues arising from general
sources having always proved sufficient
to carry on the city govern
ment aud also to meet the interest and
principal Of loans, but during the past
three or four years there has been
general growth Of expenditures which
has left an annually decreasing margin
upon which TO draw. This year, de-
spite the large increase In the assess
ment for purposes of taxation made last
year, there has been particular
dearth Of money, and the outlook
for next year is not reassuring, by
any means, as something like fifty thou
sand dollars has been pushed over, in
various forms, from this year into 1894.
Other means OF raising additional reye-
nueS have been talked over from time
to time, one being the laying OF addi-
tional license taxes, and still another
through the imposition OF a special tax
for street lighting, but even il either or
both of these plans should be put into
operation, there is prospect Of tight
times in city money matters ahead
which IS not altogether pleasing to mem
berS of Council.
1t is the opinion Of not few citizens,
both in and out OF Council, that there
is a call for a careful and earnest con-
sideratiOn Of the situation, a decided
curtslment OF expenditures, and the
infusion OF more buSiuesS-like methods
all along the line; but so far there has
been no serious attempt to do anything
In this direction, and the prospects are
that 1894 will be entered upon with a
continuation Of present methods and
the accompanying scarcity Of ready
money.
One Of the great troubles about city
financial matters is the unbusiness-like
method of putting of the making Of
the annual appropriations until six
months Of the year for which they are
intended has passed away. As long as
that system is in vogue, it will be diff
cult to bring about better condition
of affairs. Take this year as
an example. Council delayed making
I'D the estimates of receipts and ex-