The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-02
NOTABLE MESSAGE
 COMES FROM MAYOR
Makes Important Recommen-
 dationS to the Council
WANTS NEW NEGRO SCHOOL
Thinks cIty's Present Bookkeeping System Is lnadequate-TaxR Rate Should Be Raised or Assess
 ment Made Higher.

Mayor Wards annual message to the Board of Aldermen, which was presented last night, is as follows:
 To the Honorable, the Mayor and Alder
 men of Birmingham:
 Gentlemen-Herewith find departmental reports for 1906. These departments are in charge of experts and most of them ma6e recommendations worthy of con sideration. It is your duty to study them carefully for the purpose of applying past experience to municipal work immediate ly ahead of us.
 Every branch of your government has apparently been imbued with a desire to make a record for efficient work, some with more system and vigor than others, but all rendering a high standard of serv- ice to the community
 While absolutely in need of all rev enue possible the city has not been nig- gardly with emyployes. Nearly every salary on our payroll has been increased to enable them to offset higher cost of l living and to retain their services l As far as can be known to this office, every dollar expended has been made to bring full value. How and for what pur- | pose it has been used and distributed is set out as best we can in the auditor s report
 Bookkeeping.
 Right here I wish to call your akten- ton to the fact that our system of bbok- l keeping Is too crude to be satisfactory l Having been installed many years ago. when the town was small and entries simple the books are practically noth- 1 ing more than memoranda of yearly re- ceipts and disbursements.
 l Although the city has accumulated a vast lot of assets of all kinds, there Is no property account to show what it i is, where it Is, or its book value. All disbursements are practically treated as operating expenses and no credit given for amounts going into Investments per- 1 manent depreciative or otherwise. I wish it particularly understood that l this condition cannot be considered a | reflection in any manner upon the faith full and conscientious official in charge of your auditing department. It is sim l ply due to the system turned over to him to follow. Every mayor and expert examiner of the books for years past has recommended a change but so far noth- i ing has been done
 I believe it is your duty to install at once a modern system of municipal ac- 1 counts by which the public will have | accurate information as to the cost of conducting each branch of the city gov ernment as well as amounts expended on work of a permanent character; that the board incorporate annual budget in our fiscal system that an inventory | of the city's property be made and ap- praised by competent and disinterested committee of real estate men; that our liabilities, bonded and otherwise, be an- alyzed and set out on the books.
 All of this will be a foundation for future statements as well as informa- tion that the Mayor and aldermen and people should have. It will materially aid in betterng the city's credit, besides making it possible to intelligently com pare municipal statistics between this and other cities 1t will also systema- tiZe and reduce the cost of future audits of the city's books.
 Financial Condition.
 The financial condition of the city is very good, as far as the immediate pres ent is concerned, for the years receipts just about balance disbursements, as shown by the following:
 Balance Jan. 1, 1906 ...............$ 1S,5e4 61 Receipts for year 1906 ............ TOP, ,557 8:
 Total cash. year ............. .S721, 122 5; Disbursements year 19O6.. ....... 71S, ,461. fl Balance Jan. 1, 1907 ............$ 2,661 1.
 We should not overlook, however, the fact that our floating debt was increased about $S4,000 in the shape of notes issued for tangible investments which are either doing duty or steadily increasing in value viz: Idlewild Park, Twenty first street bridge, fire equipment and stations, i'm. provements to public property.
 This indicates that outstanding obllga tions and the cost of different depart ments as now maintained require all the city's income, therefore any unusual ex- penditure or investment or departmental expansion must be unloaded on the future as floating debt or postponed until more revenue is guaranteed.
 This guarantee can be expected onl, when the city is allowed to cut ava, either from its H tax rate or from tho present method of assessing property. Nc other city in the United States Is attempt ing to operate on such a low rate and or such values For illustrations block sG on the corners of which stand Norton. drug store, Second avenue and Twentieth street; Peerless saloon. Second avenue and i Nineteenth street; simon building Thiro a"enus and Nineteenth street; Barbour drug store, Third avenue and Twentieti street. is assessed for S370 ia0. The cit, can only collect thereon s3706 in taxes. 4 conservative estimate of the market value of this block Is $200O,0Oo buildings in cluded. Therefore, 1t is being given in al 1S1s per cent of its value.
 This is about the average percentage for central business property Residence property as a whole is probably turned 1T a little higher, say from 20 to 35 pei cent.
 A great many instances of valuations al freak figures could be cited, but the only object of this statement is to show oui public-spirited citizens the general situa- ] tion
 If the purpose of our scheme of assess ments is to keep from paying the state ! excessive revenue, it would be better tc accomplish that purpos in some manner that will not strangle the municipality during the process
 The city of Birmingham is generally the subject of comparison with sucl | towns Nashville, Atlanta, Chattanooga and Houston Tex, etc. Nashville has a $1.50 tax rate and an average assessment value of 75 per cent.
 If the block above mentioned should happen to be in Nashville it would pro- | duce s22,500 as against $3706 in Brnlng- l ham.
 1 Houston. Tex, under it's new system oi | government the commission, is being helo 1 up to the world as a model of municipa | achievements It's tax rate is $1 90 ano average assessfent values 50 per cent
 If block S6 could be taxed in Houston it would produce sl9.OO0 as against ss7Ot | in Birmingham. Hence 1t will be seen that if the tax sources of these two cities should be averaged and applied to Bir. i mingham our revenue would be exactly | five times as great as at present. | In that event your honorable body would | find 1t an easy matter to grant every | nossible demand the public could mako