Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-02-20
CONTROLLER NEEDHAM's RE-
PORT SHOWS FINANCES IN
GOOD CONDITION.
COMPREHENSIVE STATEMENT
Report Gives Every Item of City.
City Receipts and Expenditures
~- .tfa-. aasstE- *
For the. Past Year.

.e..eH s#5 -es - - -
The first annual report of Edward
b. Needham, City Controller, present
ed to the city council last night, was
the most exhaustive and at the same
time the most comprehensive state
ment Of the financial condition of the.
city of Richmond that has been
made IN many years, perhaps i'll the
entire history of the city.
The city controller, by virtue of
his Office, is entrusted with new du-
ties in the financial department of the
city. The Office was created by the
last General Assembly, and Mr..
Needham was appointed by the pres
ent administration to fill niche in,
the municipal household that hereto-
fore had held no incumbent. Though
the duties of the office of controllerof
a municipality are outlined in a gen.
eral way III the new cities and towns
law, the position as a whole depend
ed upon the incumbent to round it
out, as it were, and this is what Mr..
Needlam appears to have done. The
controller of the city'is in reality the
city's book keeper; the officer who
keeps tab on the public expenditures
and the public receipts; who must
look after the various funds and
finally must compute the balances in
each and be ready at any time to-.
show whether the municipal business
is paying or is going to financial ru-
in. --.s
Controller Needham s treatment Of
the municipal light plant problem,
which consists mainly of plain and
lucid statement Of its. finances, will
constitute one of the most interest
ing portions of the report as a.whole.
Owing to the fact that there has been
more or less discomfort evinced rela-
tive to the business of municipal
lighting and because of the lack Of
sufficient understanding by many per-,
sons as to the exact status of it's
financial condition, Controller Need
hams report will do much toward
correcting the erroneous impressions
that have prevailed.
In his general review of the con-
dition of the sinking fund of the city,
Controller Needham furnishes figures
which show what Richmond's fixed
financial obligations for the next nine
years will be and also points out that
the present bonded debt of Rich
mond can be handled without proving
burden to the taxpayers, provided
the city council shall exercise iudg-
ment and make the proper leyies.
Controller Needham says:
"By the end of the year 1915. all
of the present bonded indebtedness
of the city will be paid, except the
Electric Light bonds amounting to
$l44, 100000, and due in 1927.
eff the balance in the Sinking
Fund together with the yearly
amount of SS,5OO.0O due from the tax
levy, is placed so as to draw interest
az - pei SCHl, anu compounded edcn
year the amount in 1927 will be more
than sufficient to pay the Electric
Light Bonds when they become due.o
The detailed statement Of the ap-
preparations, expenditures and bal
ances in the General Fund, covering
the period from May 4, last year, up
to the first Of January, shows the
finances of each department. The
expenditures of the department Of
finance, including the salaries of all
city officers as well as their Office ex-
pense; the interest on bonds, ETC.,
reached $65,187.6S; the department
of public works, $117,3 7,3O6.34; health
department, $1,551.33; police depart
ment, $3.50 and city court, $1,1O0.
The expenditures for all Of these de-
partroents were less than the appro-
priations for each and the city con-
troller finds balance from all funds
Of $29, ,321 go.
In part, Controller Needllar, s de-
fCnpt;nuo1 ~ De-