The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-10-29


S15160S.32 was in the contingent
fund.
The Tribune party paper made the
above statement yesterday morning in
defense Of the maladministratiOn Of
the city government. The question at
once arises, if this statement is true,
why does the city not pay off some
of its obligations on which the tax
payers are paying interest?
There is outstanding at the pres
ent time over SS5O.0OO of city i'm
provement scrip. This scrip was is
sued to contractors when they fin
ished certain pieces OF work for the
city. The people who owned prop
erty on the street where these i'm
provements were made have paid
in the special taxes for these improve
ments. The money was paid into the
city treasury, and was there at least
for a time. and should have been
used to pay for these Improvements.
Why was this not done? For what
other purpose was this money used?
This scrip. which is issued 10 the
contractors, draws interest. The city
must pay this interest. The cOntrac-
tors OF course must have the money
to pay their employees and TO pay for
material, and they at once take the
scrip TO the bank and discount it.
The bank gets we'll taken care of. but
the scrip is a liability against the
property OF every man in the city. The
poor man with his little home miles
from the street that is improved, is
just as liable for this scrip as the
property on the street which was i'm
proved.
In addition to this Ss50,000 worth
OF street and sewer Improvement
scrip, there is s645, 600 of outstanding
warrants which are a liability against
the city. Why is not some of this
plethora of money which is bursting
the vaults of the city treasury used
to pay this indebtedness?
We say IF the money is there" be-
]
money is there or not. The auditors
who audited the books of the city
and were paid $4,000 for doing so,
fixed the city books so that nobody
can tell anything about it. That re-
port. by the way, which cost the city
so much. has never been made pub
lie What do you suppose it shows
that it was so necessary TO the Trib-
une party to keep secretf
Perhaps some of that great sum
which is lying idle In the city treas
ury is the profit on the water that the
/ city administration sells to the prop
erty owners. The city makes more
than 100 per cent profit on the water
[ It distributes. and that in the face Of
/ the fact that every deed given for
property carries with ii the water
right, water at cost.
The expense of running the water
/ department for 1909 was ss1. 342.9
while the water rates assessed
amounted to $217.211.63. Just how
much of that stupendous amount was
collected, nobody can find out, but
the water department admits that 1t
took in s164.11s.17 on the flat rate, to
say nothing OF the amount collected
from water sold by meter. The
amount collected on the flat rate
would give the city a profit for 1909
of sS2.776.25. or more than 100 per
| cent That does not include the me-
ter collections. which must have been
considerable. and which is something
OF a secret at the city and county
building.
In the face of that profit, the Trib-
une last year raised the water rates
i15 per cent. For instance. the water
rate for a house is 81 a year. Then
each room over five rooms pays 70
/ cents additional. Before 1909 it was
so cents a room. but that was raised
/ so per cent. On the meter rates, the
cost was increased cents a thousand
for manufacturing purposes and Z
cents for domestic use. Apparently
they were determined to raise the last
cent that could be gotten. Those who
were modern enough to have sta
/ tionary laundry tubs in the cellar
were compelled TO pay a higher rate
on them. and every man was assessed
| for a lawn twice as large as he owned,
/ the water department taking the
I chance that he would not come down
and complain for a few dollars. Oh,
! IL is a lovely system!
Now, If the treasury is bursting
with money. why not use it TO pay
bills and cut down the water rates?
But OF course, the treasury is not
bursting with money. even If the
Tribune party has raised the general
taxes 100 per cent in five years and
the city Indebtedness 60 per cent in
five years.
The Tribune party has collected a
million and half dollars in five years
over and above the amount collected
in the preceding similar period. and
it has increased the city indebtedness
almost a million and a half in five