The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-12-30
Commission Form of Government.

Commission Form OF Government.
Eau Claire, Wis, has had the COM
mission. form of city government only
a little more than six months; but
already the new system has proved
itself so thoroughly that there is alb
solutely no thought of going back
to the old plan.
Eau Claire was a pretty good test,
too Under the old political form
of government, with officers elected
because they were members of
party and councilmen elected be-
cause they were party adherents and
because they would work for ward
interests even at the cost of city in
terests, matters were going from bad
to worse. Taxes were high, the
tax burden was unequally adjusted,
the city was badly, in debt and it's
real needs were never met. All at
tempts at reform under the old sys-
tenn proved frutile, so the city tried
the commission plan.
Says a dispatch from Eau Claire:
"Probably no city could have fur
nished a better field for trying out
the commission form of government
in Wisconsin than Eau Claire. Debt
ridden, the people suffered under an
avalanche of taxes that kept indus
tries away, not witnstanding that
there are few better industrial To-
The city government was expensive,
as it provided for ten wards. Ward
lines were wiped out by the commits
sion, which also found that the al
dermen of the last council, when.
they realized that they had reached
the end of their rope, had quietly
omitted from including in the budget
for this year an item of $4,000, for
which provision should have been
made
This was the situation the commits
sion government faced in Eau Claire.
1t was a hard test, but the plan has
met it. By economies in other lines,
the $4,000 which the council didn't
provide for has been made available
for necessary uses, and that with
out sacrificing any real need in other
directions. Taxes have not been
lowered, because of this deficit
which had to be made up; but, more
important still, taxes have not been
increased though for the first time
in years the city's needs have been
fully met by the taxes raised.
One of the first things the commits
sion did was to readjust assessment
values. Like many other cities,
assessments had been slipshod and
unjust for many years. The COM
mission, sitting as a board of review,
eQualized assessments with the re-
suit, to quote the dispatch from Eau
Claire again, "that for the first time
in it's history Eau Claire can boast of
tax assessment that has some pre-
tense of being uniform" When the
many under assessed properties were
brought up to the level with the
average, and the few over-assessed
properties had been reduced, there
was net increase in valuation that
contributed toward holding down
the city tax rate.
For years the water works plant
has been a bone of contention in
Eau Claire. The commission got
hold of it and is building an immence
reservoir that will supply the city's
needs for years to come.
The old council and the school
board had been at loggerheads for
years. The commission and the
school board are working hand in
hand, with resulting economies and
better service.
In short, Eau Claire threw out the
old inefficient political government
and substituted a business govern
ment, and the city is now levying the
taxes that it needs, getting the re-
suit it requires, cutting it's garment
according to it's cloth and getting a
dollars worth of results for each
dollar Of taxes. =Duluth Herald.