The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-12-05
MUNICIPAL EXPENSES.

4
After scraping the United States
with fire tooth comb the Builetii.
finds seven cities which, as it says,
have a lower tax rate than the District
of Columbia. Yesterday the Advertiser
lquoted fifty-nine that have higher
Jones. As for the accuracy OF the Bull
lletin's figures, Fort Wayne, Ind. is
given .921a on the 500, when the al
lmanac tables put the rate at $1.00, and
Pittsburg, Pa, Is given a rate of obs,
when the actual rate is .$1.20. In some
IofN these cities the assessed valuation
has been put up at a prodigious figure
so as to reduce the rate, the assessed
valuation of Pittsburg standing at
$287 ,322, 1894, or over fourteen times the
sum which the United States paid for
1.-THE Philippine Islands. 1t must not be
Overlooked, either, that the Pittsburg
municipality has rolled up debt OF
lS12, 1853, 3O1.
San Francisco, one of the worst gov
eEned cities in the Washington
being one of the best governed-has
an assessed valuation of about $780,
0O0, 0OO 1t takes over $5,000,000 per
year to carry the city and county on,
yet the streets are badly paved, the
sewers abominable, and the general
Improvements poor. J..
How things went in San Francisco
under the old charter may be seen
through this article in the San Fran
cisco Examiner of June IL, 1896:
| When C. A. Buckley was at the
height of his power in the politics and
the offices of the city he was heard to
| express. the opinion that he could take
the contract to run the city government
for $3,000,000 year, give an improved
service and make a good profit on the
Ideal. Buckley knew the cost and value
of the municipal departments as well
as any man in the city. and there is no
reason to doubt that his statement was
correct.
| When Buckley spoke the taxes and
appropriations We're set as follows:
Total expenditures .............$4 "a, Isl, 961
Total from taxation ........... 1855, 5S1
Tax levy on 500 ................ $1067
| At that time the population of the
it is today. The interest fund was
greater, the permanent improvements
provided for were about the same as
today, and the service given the public
was hardly different from that now Of
fered. The city was kept In as good
order, the fire loss was no greater, the
courts attended to about the same num-
Der of cases in about the same time,
land the clerical force at the City Hall
lcarried through much the same amount
of work in the same way that 1t is now
done. The only conspicuous improve
nient Is seen in the cleaning of the
streets and the lighting of the outside
districts. Yet for the government Of
the city this, year the people have to
pay:
Total expenditures (estimate0 Sc, 400, $40
Total from taxation ........... 5,O14616
| Tax levy on 500 .............. $1565
The expenditures have increased by
| 81, GAS, the amount Wrung from the
people in taxes has increased by ST.
347, OBS. the tax levy has been larger by
so cents Qacking mills) on the 800.
! IL the city government of eight years
ago was wasting nearly s1,200,O00, how
much are the people being swindlad
! out of now?
If the city government could have
been conducted then for 100000 it
should not cost above 10 per cent more
to run it today. That sum would cover
the Increase Of population supposing the
city government to be run on a given
rate per capita. On liberal allowance
an extra 100000 would provide for all
the additional work done. 1t would,
therefore, appear that $4,000, 600 of the
enormous tax levy of the present fiscal
year has been wasted in extravagant
or useless expenses. The people cannot
hope to have their business run with
the economy and efficiency found in
private business. But it is evident that
We can do a good deal better than this
; In spite of all the laws passed by the
Legislature to swell the expenses by
giving jobs to politicians, it is possible
to cut down the cost of the city govern
ment by at least $l,500,000. and possibly
, by $1,700,000. Before the present fiscal
year the city government never cost
above 1897, 1876. and when this was fix
ed in 1898 it was considered.a excess
i've appropriation. This figure would
be a reduction of a million and half
In the expenses Of the present year.
/ Even so much of a reduction would be
Igratefully received by an overburdened
people. But a still further cut could
be made without Gripping any depart
ment of the city government.
Il such reduction would put a good
part of the Taxeaters' Brigade under
the painful necessity of going to work
but the public could bear this result
|
The new charter was framed to get
better results, but instead, according
to the San Francisco papers, the
change has been for the worse
; Thieves and taxeaters still get their
innings; the city is yet without an eff
cient system of public utilities.
or all the American municipalities
named by the Advertiser and the Bull
ietin there is not one which has not
gone into debt, most of them heavily
Observe this list:
cities. Net Public Debt
Albany, N. Y. ....,........s S.OSs OO(
, aaegneny, Pa. ...... 4,316.27
Atianta, Ga.,.... ............ 1855, 90.
r baltimore, Md. ....... 1922, 62t
Bay City, Mich. (a). 5S5. so,
Blngnamton, N. Y. .......... $50, 900
6os.on, Mass. ............... 1874, "a
Drlugeport, Ct. ........ 1400, 00t