The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-12

The special joint committee from the
council appointed to consider the school
budget as transmitted by Mayor Kiefer
held its first meeting last evening.
Two hours were spent in discussing the
needs of the schools, and then an ad-
journment for two weeks was taken
dy to prepare an estimate as to the
possible receipts from all sources for
the next year TO the school fund
Present at the session were Aid.
Sanborn, Murphy, Allard and Knauft;
Assemblymen Dix, Albrecht and Nell
son, constituting the committee; May
o. KiefeT, Comptroller McCardy, Cor
poration Attorney Markham and Pres
ident Zimmerman, of the school
board.
The budget, as presented by the
school board TO the mayor and trans
mitted by that official to the council,
asks for S461 57S which is $41,57 more
than was allowed by the council last
year.
After the budget had been read,
Comptroller McCardy was questioned
as to the amount which could be al
lowed for school purposes. With the
assistance of several of the members
of the con mittee, it was figured out
that about S400, 600 was in sight for
school purposes. This amount was
made UP of $3.50, coo from the levy of
two and half mills on the present
assessed valuation; $92, 900 from the
county tax of one mill, and $4,000 from
the state apportionment
The question of how much could be
estimated on from the delinquent taxes
was not brought out. The comptroller
had no idea or rather said he had
no means of telling until after the
county auditor had turned in the June
settlement. AS this might be $4,000 or
more and would allow the council to
make the total appropriation for the
schools just that much larger, the
committee decided to give the comp
troller a couple of weeks to prepare an
estimate.
In the decision it was brought out
that $50, 0G0 had been expended by the
real estate committee of the board last
year for repairs on school buildings.
OF this amount $10,5OO had been ex-
perGed in taking out the Ruttan sys-
TENS in three schools and putting in
new plumbing and sewer connections
This branch of repairs, President Zim-
hermann said, could not be attempted
this year for the reason that it was
impossible to make the sewer connec-
tons with schools having the system
in operation. The balance of the
amount spent for repairs, about $4,000,
was on a number of the buildings
In reply to Aid. Sanborn's questions
as to where it would be best to make
cut, If it was found necessary to
make one, President Zimmerman stat
ed that, if cut had to be made, it
would have to come from the teachers
salaries and the amount allowed for
repairs. The salaries of ianitors, en-
gineers and other employees were as
low as they possibly could be-
The sum of $4,000 was asked for In
the budget for fuel, and while only
ST, 500 was spent for this item last year
President Zimmerman said this was
owing to it being a mild winter and AL
advantageous coal contract. In the
matter of salaries of teachers $685., 6Ss
had been asked for. This amount
might be reduced about $4,000, as II
was based on the proposition to raise
the salaries of all teachers who were
getting less than $50 per month S. pei
month. The idea being that teachers
who had taught one year or more and
received less than this sum should be
paid a slight increase.
Personally Mr. Zimmerman was OF
the opinion that there was too much
difference between the amount paid
principals and the teachers in the
eighth grade, and he favored CUTTING
the salaries of the principals and Civ
ing the amount to the lower priced
teachers. The majority of the board
however, were not of this opinion.
Comptroller McCardy questioned as