The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-01
City Treasurer EuStis Cannot See Where Revenue Is
 To Come From
NEXT YEARS PLANS MAY
 HAVE TO BE CURTAILED
City Auditors Report for 1906 Showed Excess of $1oe, e,5e2.82 of 1lsburse- ments Over Recelpts-May
 Increase All Taxes.
To the Editor of The Age-Herald:

To the Editor Of The Age-Herald:
 In anticipation of the shrinkage of the clty's revenues in the event of the suc- l cess of the prohibition movement, l find that the only source of revenue which could. in part, offset our anticipated loss i caused by a prohibition victory Is the 1 following;
 1 Under section 120 of the municipal code | (which we have adopted) the oity is en- titled to recover from tho county one-half of the road and bridge tax paid by Birm- ingham property owners. The county collected s115 TAI. 40 of 1906 taxes from this source, being 20 mills per thousand on the total assessed valuation of S57, SIS, ,0SS CO., | The 1908 city assessed valuations (based on the previous years county assess menu were $25. 2s3, ,926,oo. Upon this basis | the city would have. received from the county $25 2S5,3 3l on account of road and bridge tax.
 Inasmuch as our license schedule has been stretched to it's limit and we are leVying taxes to our full constitutional 1 limit I cannot discover any other pos sible source of increased revenue ex- cept from the increased assessed values upon real and personal property. MT. B. A. Thompson, back tax com missioner, claims that the countys as- | sessed valuations for the year 1907 will 1 ben in the neighborhood of S71, GOO O0O,00. We cannot now ascertain or approximate 1 what the city's share of this increase will be, but for rough calculation we | alx fba xybi $25, ,2s3, ,9260O for the city as against $57,- 800 for the county. It Is my opinion, | however, from the way in which these raises are made that Birmingham will not hold It's 1906 proportion and under the new code we shall not begin enjoying the benefit of these raises until the com mencement of the year 1909 In this connection 1t is interesting to note that whilst ten years ago the city's assessed valuations were two-thrds of the countys, in 1906 they were only about 43 per cent of the countys and this year the percentage will be much smaller; this Is due largely to our contracted city limits, the bulk of the improvements in the county being made outside the city limits.
 The license inspector estimates, as per his carefully prepared figures herewith, that the shrinlzage in his office alone by reason of a prohibition victory will be $122, 39s.OO. Our real and personal taxes will likewise suffer a shrnkage to the extent of the present values of the stocks. fixtures and equipments of the saloons of the city.
 
 l learn from the departmental authori- ! ties that diminution of the police force. which Is already woefully inadequate. can hardly be anticipated should prohibition carry, as the force required to keep up with illicit liquor traders will he fully as largo as that now employed to patrol 1 the saloons
 l The city auditors report c. the financial opera tions of the city for the year 1906 shows an excess Of slG9 5g2 s2 Of disburse- ments over receipts. While 1t is true that some 60 odd thousand dollars of thls so- called deficit was disbursed on account of new parks, which was wise in- vestment. and which is in the nature of an asset, yet the fact remains that we were over $lO9 50oO0 short on the years operations. out of an annual income of $572. Il; and the affairs of the city were economically conducted at that
 The city's income for the year 1906 was as follows:
 From license . . , 25S 33l Oo
 From license trans
 fers ," ... .. " S4.0O-s25S, H5.OO From real and personal
 taxes :. ..... .. :. 215.49o.93
 From real and personal
 taxes S3,15os0- 24s,6 73 From fines inferior
 criminal court - 3s9g4s0 ] from costs 4oo- 37.Oes. 80 1 All other sources .. m 2se17 IS
 iotai ., s572, ,742. T 1 With the city's departmental expenses we are not at present concerned: the deficit speaks for itself. and the burden of making next years budget, should prohi- bition obtain. will be a matter for the serious consideration of the members of the City Council.
 It should be noted that the above item of s24S,41.73 collected from real and personal taxes Is the product of a levy of per cent tax upon the county's pre- 1 vious years assessed valuations: only one- half of this levy Cor # of per cent) is available for departmental expenses; the other half is, by constitutional provision. levied especially for the purpose of paying the interest on our bonds and the sur plus, if any. arising out of this levy after the city's bond interest has been paid | therefrom, constitutes a sinking fund and cannot be placed to the general fund of the city to be used for departmental ex- penses. Of our 1906 income, therefore, only s44s. 421.s4 could be used for departmental expenses.
 Our fixed charges for bond Interest IS | s129, 400. Under the head of road ana bridge tax I failed to mention the fact that the municipal code provides that if all the money received by the city from the county on account of this fund Is not expended for the maintenance of our streets the unexpended portion is to be | returned to the county.
 | We were ushered into the year 1907 | therefore, with the deficit above stated an anticipated loss of income through | liquor license of s123,0O0 and a further | anticipated loss of income of about 27 600 as the indirect result of prohibition, and | l submit the fact that these estimates | are conservative and beyond refutation. | In other words, and referring you to