Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-03-21
FACTS AND FIGURES.
\ Largely Increased Salary List Under the Proposed New Charter and Noth-
 ing to He Gained by the City or Town.

A Largely Increased Salary List Under
 the Proposed New Charter and Noth-
 ing to He Gained by the City or Town. Editor of the DEMOCRAT:
 I noticed an editorial in the daily Re publican of March 18th. treating on the prospective charter. The editor infers in that article that the committee who drafted the paper (of which he was a mem- ber) in reality contained ths entire brains of the whole thirty-five thousand popula- ton of the city and town of Waterbury. He also intimates in pretty forcible Ian guage that the committee were infallible, and denies any citizen the right to ques- ton their superior judgment. There are numerous citizens, who are heavy taxpay- CTS, that have had the audacity to severely criticise the perfection of the document, especially as to giving the mayor supreme authority, and also as to the propriety of the consolidation of the town city and school governments. People who are not satisfied with the charter as drafted by this infalli- ble committee have seen fit to express their honest convictions in regard to the sections in the charter that they honestly think are defective. These opinions have conficted with the exalted ideas of the editor of the Republican and they have been stigmatlzed by him as either"unclassi- | fled citizens." or ''smau politicians.
 do not question the honest and in- | tegrity of the committee who drafted the | proposed charter, I have no doubt that they manipulated the document as in their wisdom would be an improvement over the present charter. But I am not pre- 1 pared to concede that any four individuals | of this commonwealth constitute the entire ] intellect of the community, neither do believe it possible for any committee to draft a charter absolutely perfect. The charter contains many commendable inn provements, and it also contains numer- | ous imperfections, which ought to be era | dicted to make it even compare favorably
 with the present charter. In fact the im-
 perfect provisions therein contained con- demn the whole document. and the
 municipal governments of both town
 and city would be better protected
 under the existing charter, than to risk
 such radical and arbitrary changes Public opinion is strongly averse to this entire | consolidation scheme. Even the city tax l payers, who would be the natural sup
 porters of the consolidation proJect, are
 very much opposed to the unfairness of
 the measure, and the question ought to
 como squarely before the people. They
 are the interested parties and should have
 a voice in the matter. It would be unrea.
 sonable to railroad through a matter of such
 vast importance to the taxpayers of Water
 bury, without giving them a chance to ex-
 press their opinions at the polls. Nobody
 will kick if it Is submitted to the people
 for ratification, no matter which way they
 decide. It certainly should never be pre-
 sented to the legislature without theil
 approval
 The ''suburban taxpayers, " the only req
 taxpayers who are affected by this proposed change, are charactanzed as insignificant | selfish and inhuman because they do not
 quietly acquiesce to the dictates of some o
 the city managers. To burden them witt an exorbItant and unequitable tax. to pa! for city improvements Is an injustice t. them, and it is certainly creditable in then
 to resent any such encroachmentS of thei rights and privileges. There Is no justic, in the strong taking advantage of the weak and the city ought not to force tue town t( do their bidding. at their own sweet will
 because they are numerically the nor powerful do not see any consistency 1T
 the sarcasm of the editors remarks in re 3 gard to the suburban taxpayers"
 The editor of the Republican intimate 3 that the prospective charter 'simplifes thu numerous complex administrative machine
 and abolishes lot of offices, consider B able number of which carry compensa ' ton" but he does not produce any figures for comparison which appear fairly con
 vincing on the face. The theory does no appear quite so plausible after an examin : ation of the contents of the proposed char , ter. To demonstrate the absurdIty of hi , statement 1 have tabulated the salarieC
 offices, giving the amounts paid to thu
 various officers under both the proposed and present charters. The editor mus have been familiar in regard to the sum |, be paid under the proposed plan. as ht was a member of the committee whicl
 fixed the compensation, but imagine h. r neglected to thoroughly inform himself il = regard to the amounts paid under the ol,
 system. It is an easy matter to make
 statement of that kind without presenting
 any facts, and a majority of people are ap to take it all in, without making any effor to ascertain the facts from reliable sources I herewith append a detailed table. and i will be observed that instead of decreasin . the amounts paid for salaries under tn | prospective plan, it increases the amour
 very materially. l have omitted in tn
 table of salaried officers the compeD satiol
 paid to the manager ent of the wste :, board but in all probability the expense O u running this department would not ma ; terially change the result of the calculd
 tions, as have no doubt the expense UT
 der both charters would be about equal,