The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-30
Debts, Resources ard Needs of the
City.
METHODS OF TAXATION
REVENUES OF THE CITY ARE
INSUFFICIENT
No Direct Taxes On Property Levied
By the Spaniards-Many Millions
Needed at Once For Sanitary I'm
provements-City's Debts Aggre-
gate Twelve and a Half Millions.

] --N7 O4A 1lS letOlC SGNCIdl plO'
jects for underground sewerage, stree
paving, an up-to-date school system
and improvements of lesser Importance
He has had pressed on his attention
a series of suggestions on how to Gre
ate an ideal city. The only obstacle is
money. A million is nothing; some
thing between SO, 600 600 and $1,000 COX
Is wanted, and General Ludlow is turn
ing over in his mind the best way OF
asking Washington, through Major
General Brooke, for leave to bond the
city, so that the next generation, as
wei as this one, may have an oppor-
tunity to pay for the renaissance.
Ernest Lee Conanf, chairman of the
financial inquiry commission, deputed
by General Ludlow to go into the
finances of the city, has prepared a
memorandum on the subject. From
among an orderly arrangement OF
many dry facts the following para
graphs are extracted:
The debt of the city of Havana, Oct.
81, 1888, according to a statement
signed by the alcalde and comptroller,
| was as follows: Loan of April % 1885,
fifty-year per cent bonds mortgages,
Spanish bank Of the island of Cuba),
s6,721, 900.
Loan of Oct. 10, 1892, ffty-year 6 per
cent mortgage, Bank of Commerce,
United Railways and Regla ware
houses), 81, $50 ,0OO
Notes, S23, S3O.94
Floating debt for salaries, materials,
interest and sinking funds, S2,45G, 064. 49,
! Total. S12076, S55.72
AT the close of the year the floating
I debt was still greater and the total
debt was about 81, SOC, 900.
The mortgage for the loan of 1899
Z 70 ha Sra1 1fc1,T
/ 15S printed pages, including the index
! It reciteS that in 1877 the city Dor
rowed from the Spanish bank a sum Of
money, which, together with interest
] amounted in 1889 to $3,177, 65325: that
( the city was in arrears for interest and
! sinking fund and that lawsuits had
I been in progress to compel the city to
/ pay; that the city also desired funds to
complete the WaterWCrkS and for other
! purposes. and it was agreed that the
city should issue $500, 900 per Gems
ffty-year bonds to take UP the debts
and finish the waterworks, the expense
of which was estimated at 81 $50. coo
and that the balance of the loan, which
was taken at ninety. be turned over to
the city for general purposes. There
was further provision that the loan
might be increased to $1,000. 600, and
this was DONE
PROPERTY MORTGAGED.
The city mortgaged the Canal de
Nento, the aqueduct Ferdinand VII. the
ChT1stiana slaughterhouse. the Tacon
and Colon warkets, with all their
revenues, and fifty houses which II
owns in various parts of the city. The
canal de Nento alone is estimated at
$5,000000
The $1,00e,000 Loan" continues Mr..
Conant has been reduced by the
operations of a sinking fund to Sc. 712.-
600. The mortgage OF 1891 for So. COO 900
now reduced to 2,SS2 GOO. has the same
property as security. The arrears Of
interest and sinking fund on the two
loans ia 1888, 500, which figures as part
of the floating debt
The floating debt arises from the
failure TO pay any salaries, contractors
or Tor materials during practically the
whole OF 1885, and for some debts Of
preceding years. The floating debt is
prima facie a valid obligation of the
municipality and should be funded
But, before making & new loan" Mr.
Conant says. for paying these debts
a court Of claims should be formed. be
fore which all the municipalities credit
CrS should prove their claims
AR COnant then argues: For a CITY
OF the size and Wealth OF Havana. a
oebt Of 81, 600 is not excessive. In.
u6r stable government and al honest
administration of the city's affairs. it
is probable that its general credit is
still sufficient to float an additional
loan. How large such a loan could be
made / am not prepared to say with
our further study. The REPRESENTATIVES
Of Dady & co. express their willingness
TO take pay for their sewerage and
paving scheme, say So 5000 in gen.
ei2l city bonds, which would, Of
course, be junior to the bonds already
issued, and they say that they have
already made arrangements with fnan-
clers in New York TO dispose of these
bonds as fast as received. This project
alone would double the present city
DEBT and add more than one-third to its
present annual reserve
CITYs REVENUES.
The revenue Of the city is derived
entirely from licenses and indirect
taxation. Real estate is not directly
taxed and the municipality does not
directly receive anything from real
estate.
The island imposes. among other
taxes, a tax Of u per cent on the esti |
mated rental Of all houses in the city
and country and it pays to the CITY of /
Havana Is per cent of the amount thus I
collected on rents within the citv /
limits The island also levies a tax /
Of Industry, commerce and professions
and it pays to the city of Havana %
per cent of all such taxes collected I
within the city limits
The other sources of CITY revenuee
which are directly collected by the
municipality are the rent of houses
owned by the municipality. revenue of
the water works, slaughter house and
markets, taxes on meat. coffee. and
Wood hcenses on factories and bust
ness Of all kinds and minor licenses.
The total estimated revenue for 1915
is slightly in excess of s., 900, 600. The
tax on meat amounted to 6e3. 900.
These receipts" says Mr.. Conant.
amount to between IS and $40 n head
on population estimated between POO
600 and 100000. In American cities 90
per cent or more of the revenues is
derived from direct tax on the as
sessed value Of real estate, including
vacant property. In New York the
revenue is about SIS ner head: in Bos-
ton about $50; Philadelphia about SIS
and in Chicago about S12 per head
CThese figures are approximate . only,
Mr. Conant says, and. were based on
census statistics of 1900
New York, is of course, a city of
exceptional wealth. and while the
revenue per head is large, the proper
ton to the true value Of property is
less than in any city in the
country. I am inclined to think. al
though further study might modify
this opinion, that the wealth of Havana
IS such that judicious system of tax
alton would yield a revenue of SIS per
head, or upward of SO, O00, 900. and this.
II honestly and judicioUsly collected
and expended, would probably be twice
the actual net revenue now enjoyed
by the city The collection of taxes of
all kinds was farmed out on a basis
If per cent commission for collec-