The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-04-05
REACHED THE TINE.


vidual or corporation. This is the pre-
dicament that the common council of
the city Of Astoria is facing today.
Time and time again the Astorian has
called the attention of the council tol
what il has termed reckless extrava-
gance," but the common council has
paid no attention to 1t, simply because
The Astorian is a republican paper and
the majority of the common council
belong to the citizens party, which
has dominated politics in Astoria for
the past ten years.
The time has now come when the
common council must pay some atten-
tion to the statement heretofore pub
lished. They must do what they have
refused to do, "economize." The city
has reached its limit Of Indebtedness.
1t was not because gambling has been
stopped and they are deprived of theI
revenues derived from that source,
because they have already reached tns
limit and gambling fines would not be
iue The Astorian does not contend
that there has been any grating. onl
the contrary we believe that every
member Of the council and every man
connected with the city government IL
honest. They are among our best citi-
gems and there would be no induce
ment for them to be otherwise. but
they have not studied economy. They
have raised salaries, without making
provisions for the payment thereof
They have employed extra men to SUI
perintend the construction Of streets,
wholly illegal, which has cost the city
not less than $4,000 a year There have
been too many soft jobs with the city
surveyor the payroll for last month
amounting to s255 and it has seldom
been less than this amount.
They have improved streets where
the assessment has not been sufficient
to pay the cost of the improvement ana
the balance has had to be paid out of
the general fund. They now See the
error of their ways and have recently
decided that they will improve no more |
streets unless the assessment will
cover the cost Of the improvement.
They have permitted assessments for
street improvements to run from one
to three and four years, allowing the
property owners to have the use of the
city's money, and frequently have
thrown off the penalty and interest
when the property owner has an OPP
portunity to sell his property and must
pay the assessment in order to give a |
good title. There has been too much
delay In passing the necessary ordi-
nances for the collection Of assess
ments.
Instead Of reducing the city indebt-
edness and thereby reducing the in
terest, 1t has been steadily increased
and the city is compelled to pay out a
large amount Of money in increased in
terest on warrants. 1t has not beef
owing to any Intentional wrong, but to
a lack Of business judgment They will
spend nearly $4,000 for city hall
when they could have bought three
story brick building, lot and all, worth
at any time $4,000 for S25,OO0 ana
S250O would have made It a better and
more substantial city hall and in a
better location than the present site
and building. They evidently believed
they were working in the interests Of
the people, but they lacked business
Judgment. Their intentions were good
but they lack future descernmsnt
which should actuate every business
man, especially when he is handling
the money belonging to the public.
BY the time that the city hall Is
completed and the street improve
ments now under construction are paid
for. they will have exceeded their lin
1t Of indebtedness, and when that time
comes, the warrants Of the city will
be at a discount and the bankers will
refuse to take them. In order to over
come this deficit and make up for this
reckless extravaganza the common