New-York tribune., 1903-07-26
UNPRECEDENTED RECORD
CONTROLLER CIRCUIT SAYS.
Lo5o Administration to LeaUe $780,
OOO,0OO Debt Incuring Capacity.

Tho 1ou, administration will wind up its work
for 1903 by leaving the city with deot incur
ring capacity of $100.000.000 in round hgures'
This is the estimate made by Controller Grout.
who in referring yesterday to the TWO years
work of the present administration. SAID;
1t looks now as if the present adminstrSatiosn1 S N
next with debt margin of $1G00O0O0o 1t is DOUBT
fg in the bs eer left Hi amy ueh eeWay for its
cessors Roughly speaking the t4It Vaiue ~ Syste ea
pacity, 50 that to-day there IS margin OF a9oo az
Estimate and Apportionment and Aldermen will
before the close OF TIE present ser G year tb 3
have been f9F long gv e Heyeer 1n6 w to
warrant appropriations TO carry them out
When 1 speak of prospective appropriations OF
viii be spent avishly. The present administratio1
is able to give good account OF every th0pSanp SAN
account of feeling that our acts will from tn!s
that the Board of Estimate and Apportonment
Will act with great conservatism In whatever II
Proposed public improvements that seem to be
most pressing in their character are an add1qona ma
water supply, new Brooklyn Bridge terminal ana
Office building subway from Forty-second,st. to
Roughly estimated the appropriations for these
protects will be as follows m Terminal Ter Sloo @
house, $5OO00OO. These figures are only approx-
mate This would leaEe aoo9t S1 goVy lave lot b cf
with debt incurring capacity of S1oo0ooooo
MANY IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED.
Controller Grout makes no mention Of many
proposed improvements, for which large sums
will have to be appropriated at a comparatively
early day. Some of these are:
Manhattan approach Williamsburg Bridge. 5000 600
Fffty-ninth-st. widening. 50OOO Ooo
Approaches for Manhattan Bridge. 5000 600
Riverside Drive extension OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 100000
Total S22 O0o 600
If these prospective appropriations are added
to the $27OO0000 already referred to, the debt
margin would fall to $94, 100000. 1t is not at all
certain what will be needed this year for ad-
ditional water supply. The commission ap-
pointed to investigate the city's needs in that
direction has not yet reported. If the Hudson
above Poughkeepsie is to be tapped for a future
supply the aqueduct to be built will be a slow
thing to get under way, and probably it will be
two years before much money is actually ap-
propriated for it.
If Tammany should return to power next year
there is little doubt about Mr.. Murphy and his
friends applying a melting process to the
500 000,00 as soon they are back in the
saddle. The record of the Van Wyck admin
istraton shows that the heads of departments
were past masters at spending money without
securing permanent results. The revenue pro-
ducing branches of the city government like the
license bureau, the tax arrears bureau and the
Dock and Water departments, were allowed by
the Van Wyck administration to run at loose
ends, thus cutting down the revenue of the city
to the ext-nt of about $5O00O0O or $6,0O0OO0 a
year. This shrnkage will be more than ever ap-
parent if Tammany should resume control and
apply old fashioned lax methods to city admin
istration. Such laxity would have a direct re-
suit on the general financial policy of the city,
as either the taxes would have to be heavier or
bonds would have to be issued to keep things
running The spectacle of $1O0,0OO,0OO debt
limit is something that makes the tigers jaws
fairly water