The record-union., 1894-07-05
ONE CITT'S TRIUMPH.
Some Apparently lnsurmountable OBJ
stacles Overcome.
How Springfield, nls., stopped Paying
Rent and Built It's Own Home
Revenue from Franchises.

One of the most embarrassing ques-
tions that confront many cities has been
solved by Springfield, Illinois, which
dedicated on the first day of last March a
newly erected city hall costing $4,000
without adding to the bonded indebted
ness of the city and without raising the
funds with which to pay cash for the in
vestment.
Operating under the State law known
as the General Incorporation Act the
city of Springfield was hampered with
the constitutional inhibition against ex-
ceeding the maximum rate of taxation,
and the annual assessments of property
for taxation were so reduced each year
by the State Board of Equalization as to
make the total revenues available for
city purposes too low to admit of in
cluding q building fund with the cur
rent expenses. That the city has found
the way in which TO overcome such OBJ
stacles and by so doing has to-day mag
niticent public building makes the plan
adopted for its erection have something
more than ordinary interest in these
days of town booming"
On the 9th day of February, 1893,
Lu6 D4dA WHICH w NaS dQOploQ
was proposed to the City Council by
Edward w. Payne. a young business
man. He suggested that the city of
Springfield stop paying rent and build
its own home through the assistance of
a local building and loan association.
In order TO make it possible for the city
to undertake the project in the way pro-
posed Mr.. Payne offered to organize
syndicate of citizens who should sub
on fnn in hnI M No fnr 0Y1OI 1rrH
shares of stock in a local building and
loan association to furnish all the needed
capital.
This syndicate, he proposed. should
cooperate with the City Council in the
adoption of plans, the awarding of con-
tracts and in the active work of super
intending the construction of the build
ing. They were to be reimbursed for
their outlay by the monthly payment
from the city treasury of sum OF money
slightly in advance of the aggregate
expenditure the city was then making
for the rent of dingy and unsatisfactory
quarters for its public offices in num-
Der of old buildings in different sections
of the business district At the end of
! ten years the aggregate of these monthly
payments should be sufficient to return
to the syndi1ate their original invest
ment in full, with q reasonable addition
for interest on the use of the money.
The plan was accepted, and the building
| is the result.
In order to make their proposition the
more tempting the syndicate represented
| by Mr.. Payne secured an option on
the most desirable site in the city for
such building and offered it in con-
nection with the main proposition. The
| City Council had previously prepared the
way for the ultimate erection of such a
structure by establishing sinking fund
| to furnish the money for the purchase
of site, aud it had available for that
purpose the sum of $4,000 which it
paid 10 the syndicate for the title to the
land on which the building now stands.
The property was decided TO the city,
subject to mortgage which secures the
| syndicate against any loss of its invest
ment. The result is that within few
days more than one year after the plan
was first formally proposed the city Is
making payments on its permanent
home. The city is also negotiating for q
municipal electric light plant for light
! ing the streets and to furnish light to
| private consumers, and it is considering
| the same plan by which the new city
hall was built as the solution of prob
| lem similar to that with which the
council was confronted when it under
took the building project. It is proposed
also to require private corporations ask
| ing for public franchises to pay annually
| into the city treasury percentage on the
gross receipts of the business they enjoy
| from the use of the city streets.
| 1t is expected that this policy will
eventually lift the bonded indebtedness
of the city and reduce the rate of taxation
| for local government expenses to point
| below the rate in many cities which give
| franchises away and get no return. In
behalf of this policy it is claimed that it is
| fair and just both to the company that
asks for the use OF the streets and for the
citizens, and also that it eliminates the
| element of seldshness and gives the
citizens a direct and personal interest in
| the financial success OF the companies
| which furnish necessities to the public.
By assuming direct control OF the water
works system last year the city of Spring
| field has made that branch of the muni-
cipal service more than self-sustaining.
| and the revenues derived during the first
year of that control give positive assur-
ance that in few years the low rates
| charged for water will yield revenue
enough to pay large share ofthe bonded
debt and help in the reduction of the rate
of taxation.
TRY McMorry's Teas. They are the
best in the market. 531 M street.