Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-24

meetlnR or tne aldermen Tor tonight
 when the following communication
 from his honor will be submitted for
 consideration:
 Waterbury, Dec 24, 1906.
 To the Honorable Board of Alder men:
 l return herewith two resolution
 of your honorable board adopted or
 December 19, 1906. approved in part only, said resolutions being those fixing the resources and appropria
 tions of the city for the year 1901
 and fixing the tax rate for the year 1907.
 Section 21 of our city charter con
 fers upon your honorable body the
 power to lay taxes to meet the ex-
 penses of the city and to manage
 regulate and control It's finances. but
 this power is expressly subject to the
 aproval or disapproval of the mayor
 If this power of your honorable
 board to fix appropriations and to lay
 taxes were exercises after full hear.
 ing of the administrative boards oi
 the city as to the needs of the vari.
 ous departments, should be reluc.
 tant to interfere with 1t. Exercised
 as 1t was. however, without consulta-
 ton so far as l am aware, either with the mayor, the boards having charge of the various city departments, or the heads of these departments, and solely along lines laid down by eau GUS of the dominant party in your honorable board, 1t seems proper to me to call your attention to some features of your budget and tax rate which do not commend themselves to my judgment.
 l am or the opinion that, for the coming year, tax rate not larger than that recommended by the board of finance. that is, one of IA and 7-1O mills on the dollar, is suficient for the ordinary expenses of the city. There are no extraordinary expenses included in the estimates for the coming year, indeed, certain large items, such as paving and surface hardening, have been cut out, as being otherwise provided for. The grand list, as compiled by the as- sessors. has been largely increased and the assessed valuations of many pieces of property have been raised. Our tax rate has never reached a cent and half, except in times of epidemic and extraordinary emer- gency, and I do not believe it should be fixed at that point, except in case of absolute necessity.
 To the end, then, that some meth cd might be found of reducing the tax rate to something like that of former years, when no special ex- igency existed, I have given hear ing to the various departments of of the city, and have reached the fol- lowing conclusions:
 Although. the appropriations for the board of education for the cur rent year. amounting to $311.028. include appropriations for additions to two school buildings. your honora- ble board has increased this appro- priation for 1907 to $358,000, an in- crease of approximately $47.O00. The total appropriations for the second district, that is for the suburban portion of the township, is $891,510. That Is to say, in the sec ond taxation district our school ex- penses have risen to a point where they now consume 37 per cent of all funds raised for the expenses of that district. No loose generalizations about the admitted benefits of a lib- eral education can cover up the fact that this ratio is far higher than in the average city of our size and and this, to, in face of the fact that large proportion of our children of school age do not attend the public schools at all, but are taken care of in private and denom- national schools.
 In the appropriations as provided by your honorable board for this de- partment are items for construction work amounting to $82.100. an in- crease on the account recommended by the board of finance of $40,000, caused by the insertion of an item of this amount for additional school for the Driggs dis trict.
 While 1t is highly probable that school accommodation will have to be furnished in this district, within the next five years. believe that with judicious management some of this expense could be avoided for some years to come. The Driggs district covers practically all the portion of the city. Its lines have been extended from time to time so that they come quite close to the Bishop street school on the east and the Lincoln school on the vest. Admittedly these schools are not full and 1t seems clear to me that by a judicious shifting of the lines. pr by transfer of one of the higher grades to one of these adjacent this large item of expense could for the present be avoided.
 Inc board should also reflect as 10 the wisdom of erecting a ten room addition at a time when labor and material are at the highest point reached for many years. when admit Iedly only a few of these rooms will be required for several years to come.
 These facts. in addition to the that the board of educa- lion is divided upon the subject, ead me to urge upon your honorbale board the reduction or elimination ,f this item.
 should your honorable board in- list on the retention of this Item in It's present form. would urge you to carefully the other items of account in the school 
 If. as was indicated by the board