The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-31
OUR MUNICIPAL WELL BEING
MAYOR EARNS W0RTH,s FIRSTQUAR-
 TERLY MESSAGE,

Ahiquaty oi assessments for tho Purpose of Taxation-Work of the Board of Fi- nance-Needs of Various Departments.
 At the meeting of the board of coun- cilmen last evening the mayor submit ted the appended communications:
 Mayors Quarterly Message, To the Honorable Court of Common Coun- ell of the City of New Haven:
 Gentlemen: Section Il of the new char ter provides: Tt shall be the duty of the mayor to communicate to the court of common council during the month of July. thereafter, a general statement of the c0n- dition Qf the city in relation to It's govern ment, finances. public improvements and af- Ialrs, With such recommendations as he During the past six months much has been added to the history of New Haven. A charser features that have been secured The question of consolida- tion, which has been fought over before many many legislatures, has been settled: The limited tune which has. elapsed since tn usual cares and demands on time and at tention incident to the change from the old to the new coalitions, will necessitats lsav- ture reports. The present town govern- ment continues until next December and the full provisions of the consolidation act do not take effect until the summer Of 1899. school districts brings before us as never before the actual condition of our finances. and enables us to make an intelligent comparison with other cities Heretofore we have been accustomed to seeing the financial statement of only one Of our three governments at time, and possibly sonla of us may have formed opinions 0n public sal of the consolidated statement -F- sl Fss M table was presented showing the bond. ed and floating indebtedness of various cities chd throughout the country, from which pared with other cities in the same class. New Haven stands well.
 Continuing the message says: sssyiS
 The most lamentable feature of our mu- nicipal business Is the iniquity of assess ments for purposes of taxation. There Is good ground for belief that assessments or real estate vary from 25 per cent, to 100 per csat;n cent of tS actual yalge The time for com was extended by the last legislature to the spring of 1899, It Is not probable that 1t can be, completed before that time. | be- work in an intelligent manner, and as rap idly as possible under the circumstances
 It is the opinion of many that larger Percen;tage pc of property is exempted from which Is justly liable tostaxation. 's
 The amount paid to the state by the street railway companies last year. about
 trust every possible eort W bo boe to secure it.
 The hew board of finance has held seven meetings during this month, the first month sidered existing conditions and has dgread on certain recOmmen endationS which are be fore you tonight and which are referred to date. sincerely hope that the court of common council will cooperate with the board of finance having in mind the beStsi terests of the city in the future as well &s present needs. Ss8 w In the latter part of last year the court of common council authorized the appoint ment of a commission as follows:
 Ordered that His Honor, the Mayor, be authorized to appoint commission consist ing of three persons, to compile the charter and amendments thereto, and revise the or dinaces of the city of New Haven, and that such commission shall have authority to re- arrange the charter and amendments, revise the ordinances, suggesting such changes as they may deem proper, adding thereto such opinions rendered by officials acting as cor as may be of value to the proper authorities In the discharge of their duties. and also prepare indexes thereto and report to the court t;oa a,a of common council as soon as prac- Since their appointment the members of the commission have devoted large amount of time to the work. They have re-
  city hall for public hearings, which meet ings were announced In all the local papers. Only. one citizen appeared before the com mission at these meetings. If the sugges-j tions made by that citizen should be recOfn- mended by the commission, have no doubt protests would be heard from more than a hundred other citizens, some of whom would talk of Star Chamber proceedings s etc. hundred thousand there are no doubt some who have ideas along the line of ordinances necessary to preserve. the best interests estly desires to get these ideas. 's''0-' '''' This work should be pushed with all possi- ble speed 80 that suitable ordinances may be adopted and printed in shape for ready reference. It Is now seven years since the ordinances have been printed together. Some of those printed at that time are 6b- solete, and some do not provide as intended. essary more or less new ordinances. If this work could be so thoroughly done that 1t would not be necessary, to make new or dinance for few years, city officials mem- ally could study the laws with some satis- faction. M
 The subject of an isolation hospital fot contagious diseases has been so long and thoroughly discussed that every member of the Court of Common Council must under stand the very pressing need of such an ir-s sitution. The funds for the hospital having been provided, 1t only remains for you to
 
 The department in which the greatest change Is made by the consolidation act and the new charter is that of the public works.
 By consolidation, forty miles of streets, about 271s miles hardened with crushed cluded in the old city limits Of the lat ter, 40 366 1000 miles have some kind of paving, 20 320. 1000 miles being simply 1'hardened" or "Macadam topdreSsed." It Is well understood that the damage to our streets by excavations for various pur- poses is very much greater than from all other causes combined. A large amount of sured by making and enforcing an ordi- nance controlling street openings.
 If the department of Public Works has the support and cooperation of your hon. orable body, and Is furnished with proper means, l have DO doubt that more satis- factory results will be ensured than under the old system.
 The departments of Police, Fire, Health, Parks, Library, are all in charge of thor oughly competent and public spirited citi- Zens whose names are guaranty that the interests of the city In their charge will be as well taken care of as the means sup piled them will permit.
 All of these departments should be smoothly working under the new condi- tions and show satisfactory progress in my quarterly report In October.
 Respectfully submitted,
 FREDERICK B. FARNSWORTH.
 Mayor.
 City of New Haven, July 30, 1897.
 Mayors Communication.
 To the Honorable Court of Common Coun-
 ell of the City of New Haven:
 GenfIemen.-The last sentence of Section