The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-18
THE MUNICIPAL FINANCES.

| FNS aI d uDllC IlSttlIHS OL I-SNt
 mates Committee by Mir John Ker-
 ley.
 MT. John Kerley, who appeared be- lore the special committee on estimates Thursday evening at the public hearing then held, addressed the committee as l follows:
 Much which I wish to present would more properly come at first before the board of finance of the city, but an in- ability of myself to attend their meet ings, and the limited time they were able to give to public hearings, pre- vented my presence there. In the call 1 for the meeting of this committee it is said, 'To consider the estimates of mon eys necessary ----, and the taxation | required,' to which all interested par ties are notified to appear and be heard. Now, first of all, this word necessary is a very indefinite term, depending much upon the view taken by different persons and often more upon the per- sonal interest of the different parties. l notice that the estimates presented to the board of finance were nearly half million more than was allowed by this board. Possibly the larger sum could
  within the means of the taxpayers to grant it. But this would involve a tax of about three per cent. in all, which certainly the taxpayers would not jus tify. The wise business man or cor poration considers not only what is de- sirable or necessary but the ability to have it, and in times of poor busi- ness and financial depression much may be deferred till some future time, when circumstances are more favora- ble. n~
 "We are all aware of the peculiar financial condition in which the city is placed, from the bad financial manage ment of the past, where by the fiction of borrowing money in anticipation of future income, and other unbusness ways, about two and a half per cent. has been expended, when the total tax levy for several years has averaged but little over two per cent.
 There are only two ways out of the present difficulties. One is to levy a tax large enough to bring up arrear- ages, or continue the taxes of the past and bring up the arrearages by econ omies and deferring improvements till a future time. In justice to myself and other taxpayers, I protest against a higher tax than two per cent. in the aggregate, believing that this amount can with great economy, be made suffi- cient for all absolute needs and no part of the public service suffer. As the special school tax has been already laid and this cannot be altered, and grew out of a peculiar condition of things in connection with a change of govern ment, I urge that the other tax be twenty mills instead of tWenty-one mills as proposed by the board of finance, and that it be understood that after this year no more than twenty mills in the aggregate is to be collected in taxes during any one year.
 "As to the matter before us, l am well aware that it is impossible, in the short time at the disposal of this com mittee, to go through what an able board of finance has spent weeks on, and the only thing that can be done is to make such deductions in the aggre- gate as will reduce the tax rate one mill from what is proposed and leave it with the board of finance to use it to the best advantage within this limit, A good start can be made by deferring for one year the following items: All new street hardening-the parties liv- ing on them, or the public, will not suf- fer any more than in the past; all ap- propriations for the improvement of parks, doing only what is necessary to preserve past outlays; new sewers, ex- cept in cases of pressing necessity; on all salaries not fixed by statute law, a discount, either in the sum for full ser | xr;x,n I-,y1 1n, Afp +1,a time; less number of assistants in the various departments as competent men ought to be found to do the work at less salary.
 q will not stop to refer to numerous items that I find in the report which I think can be omitted for one year with out serious public inconvenience. By referring to the report of the town agent for last year, which, I suppose, with estimates from the former town officers, Is made the basis of the esti- mates for next year, find room for considerable margin of economy at the almshouse and still do justice to the unfortunate inmates of that home. As a sample, but not the only thing open to criticism, is not over gelve hundred dollars a pretty liberal sum for confec- tionery and tobacco? I do not make these criticisms in a spirit of fault-fnd- ing with the last town agent, as I per- , sonally count him among my warm friends and think that for the last year he has conducted the town affairs as well as any of his predecessors-and the same can be said of his assistants but rather to insist that the time has come when greater economies should be ; practiced.
 Some of the things I have referred ; to involve business principles which are applicable for all future time, but oth- CTS should be considered as only tenn , porary expedients and not a basis of 7 action year hence. I am aware that l considerable of the expenditures, like interest on bonds and some other things, are absolute and cannot be changed.
 If all the salaried officers of the city above $1,000 per year, would during the year take a vacation of one month, without pay, they would immortalize their names, and quite likely inure their election for the next term. But the millennium has not yet come. One