Kansas City daily journal., 1896-07-28
COUNCILMAN WOLF DISSENTS.
POINTS 0uT ERRORS IN THE FIG
IREs OF FINANCE COMMITTEE.
lie Has submitted n Minority Report
in WhicI, He Endcnvnrs to show
Tint There Is No Occasion
for Reductions.

The feature Of last nights meeting OF the
lower house was, in reality. something
which was not acted upon, namely: the
minority report of Councilman Wolf, dis
senting from the report of the majority
o; the special finance committee appointed
to investigate the probable revenues of the
city for the current fiscal year As the ma
jortty report of Councilmen Craig and ST.
9haf could Of n9t IT. be nrSsSgn'eb ,b omns na,S 10
report was declared out of order and was
not presented, being only received and filed
away for future consideration. Thus an
animated debate WAS prevented. The re-
port of Mr.. Wolf is as follows; ,soc
To the Speaker and Members OF the Lower
House of the Common Council:
Gentlemen!-ln dissentng, from the re-
port Of tho majority of the finance commit
Tee, beg herewith to submit minority
F'irst--I am convinced that the finance
committee has uuderestimated the revenue
of the current fiscal year by at least the
sum OF 5000. owing TO their failure to
the fire and life insurance companies.
which this year was not included in the
and which Will amount to about $500, and
will bo collected by the state and county
collector and turned into the city treasury
second.Tha, they failed to account for
the railroad tax. which is collected by the
amount to about $1,000 TO be paid into the
city treasury about January !, 1897.
Thira-I iind that the estimate, of sl7o,ooo
finance committee, is at least $500 under
the most conservative estimate made by
auditor or the city treasurer. and consider
these men better qualified to make an ac-
revenue than any other officials connected
with the municipal government. because
practieally, ana base their figures on on the the
result OF Pas, experience ana present ex-
Tourth-I find that the said finance COM
mittee underestimated the revenue to be
derived from the interest on daily balances
in the sum of at least TnO.
Fifth-l iind that said finance committee
In making their estimate did not take into
consideration the minor departments, such
as superintendent OF buildings, weights and
measures, boiler inspector, engineers liz
aense elevator inspector, public scales adj
Vertising and other miscellaneous collec-
tons, which, as shown in schedule hereto
attached, viii amount to about $4,000.
said committee has entirely underesti-
mated the city revenue, ! am equally well
satisfied that they have made an error in
the. apportionment Of their own low csti-
mate, whcH was $4,000 To the expense
department they have apportioned the
sum OF Slloov' when an examination of
for ten years back, from 1853 to 1888, will
show that the expenditures from that de-
mum, and that while the average for the
past three years was about equal the
amount apportioned TO that department
this year, no such contingencies are liable
to arise as those with which we had to
contend during the past three years, name
lS, the acquisition of the water works.
which alone cost The city during the three
years tho sum of $1,000 all OF which came
out OF the expense department, $500 hav-
Ing been paid for lawyers fees and about
the same amount for court costs, expert
testimony, railroad fares hotel bills plans
and specifications for the water works and
other incidental expenses connected with
the water works litigation. Now. this is
past ana gone, and settled in fun, and |
ample to meet all demands that may arise
from unexpected sources, causing a draft
on the expense department, as the city is
not engaged in any expensive litigation and
is not likely TO be called upon 10 pay any
heavy judgments in the near future Then
] claim that the sum of $500, unnecessar-
lily apportiOned to this department, should
be re-apportoned, giving the police depart
ment SIS 200 and the fire department $50 600
because any surplus in the expense depart
meut will be a mark for all kinds Of
schemes to get appropriations from the city
treasury, and they will point 10 II as n sur
plus from which the money can readily be
drawn.
/ consider this covering up of the city's
revenue menace to the welfare and PROS
perity of the city, and that any attempt at
reducing the salaries OF the fire depart
ment and police department, on the plea of
inadequate revenue, is unnecessary and alb
solutely false,
If this proposed retrenchment is carried
out, there will be u surplus at the end of
this fiscal year OF over 100000 to tempt
schemers and corruptonists, and which, in
by some tom fool LEGISLATION. while In the
meantime, the police department, the fire
department, the laborers, and. incidentally,
the city at large, must suffer. Therefore, !
ordinances taking the sum of s3s 000 from
the expense department, and putting the
respective amounts to the credit of the va
rious departments above indicated, Re-
g.z.tf nj mi ff.,1