The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-04
CITY MUST PAY
BILLS FOR EXTRAS
Extra Patronage for ContraC-
tors Can No Longer be Sad
died on Property Owners.
NEW LAW REGULATES 1T
THIS EXPLAINS Wall OF RE-
FORM ADMINISTR RATION.

T. reason for the wall OF despair that
went up from the reform administra-
ton when the legislature passed the law
regulating the letting of contracts for
special improvements has been discovered.
1t is the fact THAI no longer can bills for
extras he saddIed upon the property
owners All such work must in the future
be paid for by the city out of its few
remaining unWasted resources.
This feature of the new law was known
20 the reform cOuncilmen and their pet
contractors long ago They realized that
IL would mean d considerable decrease in
the revenue that could be exacted from
the OVer-assessed property owners and a
corresponding decrease IN the amount or
patronage which could be handed TO r j.
Moran ct al. Such a serious blow at the
pTerOgatiVes of the engineer and council
men had TO be resented, and the only way
10 resent it seemed to be to obscure the
issues and declare that the legislature
had with malice aforethought enacted this
law in order TO prevent the Salt Lake re
formers from carrying out their mag
nificently expensive scheme of public i'm
proVements.
Good Contracts Cancelled.
When the meaning of the law was first
interpreted, the council and the board OF
public works asserted that it meant that
A separate contract must be let for each
separate piece of property abuttlng the
proposed improvements. This, they de
clared. would be prohibitive as it would
mean an enormous amount OF advertising
As a result. contracts for much-needed
work with S. Birch. j. P. Kennedy ana
Johnson x Beacon were cancelled linen
somebody proposed that there be test
suit to determine the exact meaning OF
the law. Finally it was decided that this
was useless and then the council and
board of public works began to see the
daylight.
II - como IN the DoiDt NOW where IL
is acknowledged that all the cancelled
contracts were perfectly good because the
assessment was made before the new law
went into effect and that enactment pro-
Vides for the prosecution of public work
from the time notice of intention is ad-
Vertised until the contractor is paid The
''refOrmers," however, did not notice this
very evident fact.
As a result. all this work has had to be
advertised for again and property owners
viii have to pay a price far in excess of
the original bids for the completion OF the
work
Two weeks ago the city attorney drew
mp form of contract under the new law.
The contract went TO the council for ap-
prevail The finance committee and the
board of works have now come to the con-
clusion that the old form is all right
so far as this work is concerned, and the
board will take the matter up at Its meet
ing Friday evening. This form drawn by
the city attorney will, however, have to
he used in ali new work for which as
sessments were not levied before the law
went into effect.
City Pays for Extras.
II is in this contract form that the pro-
vision occurs, making the city and not
Rhe property owners foot the bills for eX-
tras which have in the past been so gen
erOUsly approved of, especially when pre-
scented by favored contractors.
On July IS the board will open bids for
ali the work for which contracts were can
celed last March. 1t is doubtful, how
ever, whether the city engineer can pre-
pare the required data for the contractors
by that time and il is expected that the
opening of bios will have to be post
YCncd another two weeks. Another rea-
son for postponement is the fact that con-
tractors who have studied the municipal
financial situation realize that the re
formers are up against it and are not
willing to take the chance of not being
paid for a year or two. 1t Is certain that
ali the bids received will be excessively
high as compared with bids received dur
ing the last year and that the property
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