The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-30
SCHOOL MONEY UP
Board of Finance Will Wrestle With the Greene Street
 Proposition.
SPECIAL SESSION TO-DAY
Market Conditions Against Disposal of Bond Issue Authorized for
 the Building.

When the board of finance meets this afternoon it will consider the impor- tant proposition of providing funds to defray the expenses of paying for the cost of building the Greene street schoolhouse. The bond issue of slOO,- GOO, recently authorized by the legisla- ture, and ordered by the finance board, to cover the additional school expenses, has not yet been disposed of and there is little prospect that it will be until the market for 1t shows improvement
 Of course, the bonds, having to be issued in order to secure the loan nec- essary to enable the city to carry out It's enterprise along this line, it will have to be disposed of eventually, but the finance board feels that to defer the sale of the bonds would be wise at this time.
 The site for the Green street school house cost about $220NO and the lowest bid for the construction amounts to SIS, ,719.
 This cost, plus the $22,OOo for the site and the percentage of the architects, will make the building and ground cost the city over $lO0,OoO. Four thousand dollars go to the architect
 The last session of the general an- sembly authorized the issue of bonds amounting to $100,000 for school pur- poses, the board of finance deciding that 1t would be necessary to issue such an amount of debentures In order to finance the undertaking which had been hanging fire for some time. On the strength of the bond issue, the city was enabled to negotiate loan for the money to pay for the site, and now it will have to borrow more, securing an amount to cover the balance between the amount paid for the let and the amount to be paid for the builders and the architect. The difference between the amount borrowed that Is secured by the impending bond Issue and the entire cost will be an excess that will necessarily have to be derived from some other department of the city. A member of the finance committee said he thought that this could be done by serimping.
 The idea of Controller Rowe is to is- sue notes covering the amount to be borrowed, and to later offer the bonds for sale It is his opinion that the deferring of the sale of the bonds will result adyantageously to the city.
 Another matter that will arise at the meeting this afternoon will be the re- opening of the question of increasing the salary of Chief of the Fire De- partment Rufus R, Fancher from s2,- 750 to 5000, it being expected that Corporation Counsel Leonard M. Dag gett will furnish the board an opin- ion as to whether the legality of its action in fixing the salaries of MT Fancher, Building Inspector Joseph E. Austin and City Engineer Cassius ". Kelly is affected by the resolution of Alderman Franklin l.. Homan| which was passed by the aldermanfcs board. This motion was adopted as heretofore recited in The Journal-Courier subse- quent to the passage of another reso- lution adopting the estimates, in which the salaries were named, and which Came down from the board of finance.
 The board of aldermen upon MT. Ho- mans initiative passed a resolution to the effect that MT. Fanchers salary should be raised to $3,0O0.
 The point at issue is, does this ac- tion initiate against the legality of the former action of the board of alder men in adopting the salary of the fire chief with the other salaries included in the estimates? The opinion of the corporation counsel does not quite clar- fly he atmosphere as to MT. Fancher, according to the board, and it wants to hear from him again. The members of the finance board believe that their position in the premises is eminently correct, but they do not care to have the matter questioned later on, hence their inquiry for more legal illumina, ton anent the vexatious subject,