The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-11-27
TIE TAX RATE.
Finance Board Confirms the
Levy This Morning
for 1878.
MAYOR Hoos SIGNS IT
Books Delivered TO the City Col
lector Whose Bills Will Be
Ready Monday.
MAYOR HooS SIGNS IT

The tax levy for 1878 was confirmed
this morning by the Board of Finance,
and Mayor Hoos reluctantly signed II.
All the Commissioners were in their seats
when President Henry Brautigam opened
the meeting. Twelve ponderous volumes
were on the table, in front of the Presi-
dent and these had just been sent up
by the Tax Commissioners. Within the
pages of these tones are taxes amount
ing to about $2000.000, for which the
cheerful taxpayer will pay $3.50 per
thousand.
On one side of the room, in the FL
nance Board, sat Corporation Counsel
Blair Corporation Attorney Douglass ana
City Collector Smith, who was just ach-
ing to have the books in his charge for
the collection of the taxes. The busy
little Collector has for days had his clerks
going like sixty making out the tax bills,
and by Monday he will have them all
ready Clerk Martin Finck stood at his
desk with his formidable box of papers,
and modestly at the Clerks desk sat
Justice John Nevin.
Clerk Finck methodically unfolded a
paper and read. in his official tones, a
resolution approving of the levy and re-
questing the City Collector to collect the
sums named in the books. Carried unan-
imously
Take the resolution book to His Honor
the Mayor" said President Brautigam,
and that was done.
In the meantime the Board took re-
cess A few minutes afterwards, IL %
A NJ. to speak precisely by the card,
Private Secretary Hoos entered the room
bearing the book. and another minute
afterwards Clerk Finck said
THE resolution approving of the con-
firmation of the tax levy has been
signed by His Honor the Mayor, who has
also written something on the margin
of the book
Read it, curtly said President Brau-
tigam, with a perceptible smile on his
good-humored face.
Clerk Finck turned the book towards
him, and on the book were the following
words
in approving this resolution I act in
the light of necessity and do not recede
from the position taken in my communl-
cations to the Board of Finance in the
matter of economy in fixing the items in
the budget, which budget did not meet
ssEDwARD Hoos. Mayor
Not a word was said as Clerk Finck
finished reading this marginal note"
and the Commissioners turned to other
matters with an evident sigh of relief.
City Collector Smith ushered in two of
his messengers, who yanked off the table
the tax books, and that business was at
an end.
There leaked out this morning a curious
piece of history, and that was that a
few days ago Mayor Hoos positively de-
clared that to be consistent with his ac-
ton on the budget he would not sign
the resolution of the Board of Finance,
approving the tax levy. AS every one
knows, the Mayor tries to be consistent
in everything he does. He would be al
lowed ten days under the act in which
either to sign, veto or allow it to be-
come operative without his signature, and
the latter course was what he determined
to follow. This morning His Honor
changed his mind and signed the reso-
luton, with the mental reservation re-
ferred to.
Had the Mayor allowed the ten days
to operate, very serious state of things
diately after the tax levy is confirmed,
rush to the City Collectors Office and
pay their bills to gain the rebate, but
if the Mayor had followed his original
plan they would not have been able to
do this, and the result to the city would
have been that monies falling due, like
interest on bonds, in day or two could
not be met. The city always relies on
an amount of ready money from the first
few days collection after the levy has
been confirmed. Had Mayor Hoos with
held his signature some nice financial
complications would have eflsued. 1t was
on calm reflection that His Honor decid-
ed to sign the levy and thus avoid the
Charybdis of an overriding resolution and
the Scylla of an enraged public.
The tax bills will be ready on Monday,
and those who have the money and are
willing to pay will please step up to the
City Hall, where they will be cheerfully
relieved of their greenbacks.