The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-05-01

counted for by needs that could not b
foreseen, such ms the extensive repairs
that had to DO made to the City hall ana
the fitting out of soldiers and sailors.
Bnt whatever Its cause was, IL
exists, and must be met. The
committee on appropriations Of the
city council has for some weeks been at
work on the bill which win be offered to-
night, and has, we have no doubt, made
conscientious and determined effort to
cut the appropriations down to the
lowest point practicable, and yet, We un-
derstand the appropriations they have
determined upop as imperatively neces-
sary win require q tax rate Of at least
S21 on thousand. In the bill there Is
no provision for the Park street school,
none for combination chemical engine
and ladder truck on Munjoy hill. and
none for an engine at the West End. Yet
1t cannot be denied that all these things
are needed. The Park street school house
must either be remodellsd or a new one
built, or large number of scholars In
that section of the city will be without
school accommodations. The chief engi-
neer of the fire department insists that
the large number of high wooden build
ings which have been built recently on
Munjoy Hill make it imperative to have
ladders near at hand, otherwise there
will be great danger of loss of life IL one
of these buildings takes firelin the night
time The people at the West End make
out pretty strong case for the locating
of a fire engine in that vicinity. These
demands are all of such a nature that. in
oil probability, they will have to be met.
How. large an expenditure they will
necessitate, we do not know exactly, but
1t will probably he not far from $780, 900
this year. There are other demands. less
necessary than these, perhaps, but for i'm
proyements that are very desirable, such
for instance as the extension of the Back
Bay sewer and repairs to the Casoo street
school house which are badly needed.
Anticipating that the matters specified
above. and probably some others, will
have to be provided for there has already
been discussion as to the way in which
the.noney shall be procured. As the
limit borrowing cannotIbe resorted to and
the city must choose between raising the
tag rate OF taking from the sinking fund.
Each method has it's earnest advocates,
and undoubtedly this will be one of the
questions that the city council will dis
pute over tonight.
Taking money from the sinking fund is
really borrowing, though of kind
probably that the constitutional restric-
tion does not prohibit. and the money
taken must be returned within few
years. The same objection applies to it
as to other forms of borrowing, that the
postponement of payment which is &C.
cop}plished by 1t tends to more liberal ex-
penditure than If the money had to be
raised by. taxation Immediately, and there
is also another objection which seems to
many serious, that 1t constitutes an en-
croachment on fund that is set apart
for a specific purpose. namely, the reduc-
ton of the bonded debt of the city Still
the ordinance permits 1t and it is probably
legal. We are inclined to think that If it
be possible to obtain the money needed
without increasing the tax rate very
much it would be wiser TO raise 1t by
taxation than by borrowing from the
sinking fund. Postponing bills does not
pay them, and IL not unfrequently hap
pens that when the day of payment comes
the conditions are no more favorable for
settlement, sometimes less so, than when
the money was spent. At bsst We cannot
postpone payment many years by draw
ing from the sinking fund, unless we are
going to practically destroy it.