The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-04-05
THE CITY AHEAD,
CITY ATTORNEY YOUNG WRITES
AN IMPORTANT OPINION.
Instead of Being $4,000 Behind, the
City Is $4,000 Ahead-A Differ
ence i'm Bookkeeping Sinking
Fund Committee Meets.

After studying the charter, Alder
man Higgs, chairman Of the council
finance committee, was in doubt as to
whether the city is really behind, as
has been claimed, or whether it has
not money in the treasury. Yester-
day began the new fiscal year, and Mr..
Higgs asked City Attorney Young as
to his opinion on the matter. The
charter states that the tax levy is
made for the current" year, not the
year ahead, and as it vas made last
fall, there was a question whether it
was not intended by the charter to
meet the expenses of the year which
ended Sunday night. Mr.. Young takes
this view of the case, in the following
communication:
'MANKATO, April 1st, 1895.
sc. Il. Hugs, Esq:
"DEAR SIR In answer to your in
quiry of this forenoon, relative to city
Indebtedness. and as to whether the
tax levy commencing in April, 1894,
and last year ending in September,
applies to Indebtedness made during
the same fiscal year, | have to say
that, after having read the different
provisions in the charter regarding
the same, / think the tax returns
which are now coming in and which L
understand were levied during the
fiscal year of 1894 and until April,
1895, should be applied to the follow
ing Indebtedness of the same year
that is to say, if we are now owing
S25. 900, and we get $4,000 as tax re-
turns, the S25, 900 SO received should
be applied to the $25, 600 Indebtedness.
"If this construction of the charter
be right, and our tax returns are sutfi-
cient, we start in the fiscal year of
1895 with no indebtedness, unless our
tax returns now coming in shall be
less than our floating Indebtedness for
the fiscal year commencing April,
1894, and ending in 1895.
81 do not see how l can make this
palmer.
"Yours,
w. E. YOUNG"
Of course, this is merely a differ
ence in bookkeeping, and the city has
no more dollars and cents in the
treasury one way than the other. But
the opinion of Mr.. Young makes the
city $4,000 ahead on the books, and
the new council will start in appar-
emily ahead instead of behind. The
practice has hitherto been to make
the tax levy for the year ahead, as the
taxes are not collected until the fore
part of that year. The charter pro-
vides that any deficiency at the close
of a year shall be met by issuing
bonds.
A meeting of the sinking fund COM
mittee was held last night, at the call
of Mayor Weaver. The latter was
present, with Alderman Higgs, Treas
urer Shepard (by Gen. Pope, and Re-
corder Brown. After much discussion
of the situation, a motion was made
that 81, 127, received as premiums on
the sale of bonds, and S54O.4S, received
as interest on the sinking fund, be
passed to the credit of the sinking
fund. This was carried unanimously.
This leaves to the credit of the sink
ing fund $6,675.52.
1t was the desire of some of the
members to transfer the balance now
in the interest fund, about S12,0 900 to
the sinking fund, as required by the
charter. No decision was reached on
this point, however, and it was de-
cided to hold another meeting before
the council meeting Saturday night.