The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-03

per cent bonds at premium sufficient to
warrant making subsequent issues pear
only four percentum, and then after your
induction into office, with an attack upon pp9
our financial system and the conducl ~ ~
our financial affairs, recently made bonds
at four per centum are actually sofa at d
premium, the effect of your communaca-
You further charge that Martin Act
monies have been used for current ex-
penSeS. -
Martin Act monies are paid up delin-
quencies of three kinds: taxes, water rents
and assessments.
The water account is a continuous fund
consequently arrearages OF water rents
when collected under the Martin Act go
into the water account and are used as
money collected. This is proper. as the
expenses OF the Water Deparimehs pa he arr are
rearages are large the receipts or eacn
succeeding year go to pay the Claims
This is also the case with assessment
arrearages. When these are collected they
are deposited to the credit of the assess
provements which is the same course Sas
as that taken with collections promptly
made on every Improvement.
In the case of arrearageS or taxes, Wnen
collected under the Martin Act, the pro-
ceeding is different. The moneys re-
ceived are apportioned accorolng 70 .me
separate years for which they We're pre-
viously unpaid This is done by the CITY
Comptroller and periodically he forwards
q statement of the arrearages pald unael
the Martin Act. and a resolution is passed
ordering the money transferred 70 tne
several tax arrearage funds, previously
referred to, over which i extendS. nia taxas Ias
therefore become part of the sinking
funds and are invested by that Board 70
be used to retire the several issues OF
tax arrearage bonds upon maturity, or at
least to reduce them.
1t must be evident then that this Board
has neither the power nor the oppor-
t,,71i Nv To lIca thaSe monies Tor current
expenses and your charge is as utterly
without foundation as the others pre-
70 our minds there is no more con-
elusive evidence that your Honor mas
been imposed upon than exists IN ..ri me
following statement made by you TINS ne
duty of fixing the amount to be raised
by taxation for municipal uses IN jersey
City during the year commencing De
der the law that power IS almost apso1 .;t,-
lutte AS Mayor have not any authority
to revise your determination. -Four Inein- ~
bers of your Board were appointed py
nv Immediate predecessor and am not
in any sense responsible for the tax ieVy
as you may determine 1t. the law not
having invested me with power TO COIL
troll or review your action, and the per-
sonnel of your Board not being or my
selection. l approach with dlfndence ass'd sus,
.gestion of the policy you should pursue.
If it was the intention of your Honor
or of your legal adviser to confuse lne
public mind as to your Tesponslpllityo resp @ corna M
pleted your statement is a very ciever
piece of political chicanery. II your m
tention was to throw the Wnole responssii- tsis
Board. as a matter of good political
diplomacy and escape thereby any crltl-
eism for the sake OF pontlcal to aoyam,n9' assnme
your statement is model or ingenuity.
But it is not the purpose of this Board.
and we can hardly believe it to be your
Honor's desire to connive at such reck-
less disregard of your duty and response
bilities as Mayor. The. charter OF Jersey
CITY. passed in 1889, and unchangea up TO
the present time, in speaking OF the veto
power of the Mayor says
vETdaPowER.
Sec. 10. 'That the Mayor OF any city
shall have the right to veto the acts ol
any Board provided for in TINS act oI
any other Board in any such city, ana
cnpies Of all resolutions or other matters
d1llv certified shall be furnished to the
Mayor of every such city and ne SndIl
have ten days in which to consider them
in each case before signing or return
ing them to 1eBeards respectively Win Will.
his objections; the Mayor SnaH nave !ie
Cd in any ordinance or resolution appro-
rriating money for any purposes, ana 10
approve of the residue OF such ordinance
M. reSolution: any board may pass any
resolution or other matter notwithstand-
irg the objections of the Mayor py a
vote of two-thirds Of all the members
thereof
It is clear to everyone that your Honor
has the right and power to d1sapprove oi
any or every item IN the ae TAX leey If II snv snv
item your responsibility is the same as
ours, or if you allow 1T to become eIIec-
tive without action, but II your .1enor en1,l
yetoes any item or set of items ana TOUR
members of this Board vote to approve
the items Notwithstanding your op5ectiiSo,nIs ions
then and only then does the responsibility
- Ne NAV as well advise your Honor that
WREN the levy is submitted TO you LOT
consideration and action, we Will not
submit to any trifling with technicaHtles
such as has been perpetrated upon US IN
the case of you veto of the appointment
of the water experts we Will not allow o,s
the people to be deluded by a wholesale
veto of the items; it is your duty TO ap-
prove of those fixed by existing law and
to share with us the responsibility OF thelr
determination. In case OF your dlsap-
proval of any or a number of items we
Shall expect that you suggest what shouldi
be submitted and the reasons therefor II
cur Board reject your recommenoia!l,i.on no
and override your veto the responsibility
willb e ours and will be assumed by US.
will be ours and will be assumed by US.
We now come to your charge that 1T is
A fact that your Board yielding to clamor
for large appropriations to the different
departments, has omitted from the tax
"a We challenge you to indicate upon
what the charge is based. 1t is very easy
to use high sounding language and deal
sl.ch Charge, but to be fair and honest
you should have indicated wherein we
have some alleged foundation for the
charge. We can discover none unless it
be the use of the unappropriated one
quarter of license monies to reduce the
aamount to be raised for sinking funds in
the tax levy Of 1S96-1S97 This matter was
fully ventilated by the late Grand Jury.
and if there was merit in the charge why
were no indictments found?
This Board has never set itself right
upon the matter, but as you have brought
it up we will do SO now. Prior to the
fees received by Jersey City under the
charter of 1871 and its supplements Went