Evening journal., 1910-05-06

the duties they have 10 perform and no
remark that ] make is TO be taken as a
reflection on the assessors. The fact being,
both the assessors and the Board Of As
sessment, Revision and Appeals are the /
victims Of an inadequate system. suitable |
only for a village but not for a city like /
Wilmington
"The authority Of City Council Is as
ISOLATED with that Of the Legislature TO
degree that frequently renders investi-
cation necessary to determine whether the
final authority on given subject is vested
IN Council or the Legislature, many OF
whose members are necessarily as ignor-
ant OF the requirements in the city Of VIII
mington as they are Of the requirements
in any city OF Wilmington as they are OF
the requirements I'm any other city, yet the
Legislature has the power to hamper the
authority Of City Council IN most any
reform movement that can be mentioned.
and. as n case in point, / instance the
difficulty experienced of e1ecting an
amalgamotion in the recent merger OF
tho engineering department with the
Street and Sewer Department. AT times
the Legislature has extended the city
boundry lines without apparent necessity
or for partisan reasons to include terri
tory that the city now finds immensely ex-
pensive ana difficult 20 eare for.
"1n the last report Of the Census Bureau
% the United States Government, Il is
shown that Wimington,s per capita tax
Is SS55 and that this is the lowest per
capita tax of forty-seycn cities IN the
same class as Wilmington. The above re-
port however. Is misleading as tho other
cities collect and use revenues from H.
oonses, permits, etc, amounting TO from
$4,000 to $4,000 each. rhe above Govern
mcnt report shows that Wilmington COLI
locted no revenue from licenses and per-
mits not because the Same are not collect-
ed. Large sums are col ected in Whining
ton for licenses and permits and foI coun-
t. and poor tax, though litle of IT remains
in Wilmington. Tho most OF It goes to
the county and state. just how much of il
Is not easy to determine by the reports
From the county auditors report 1905
1903. page o, It appears that of the total
county taxes of s97Os7s1, Wilmington con-
tributes s25O.722.2O or two.thirds of all the
taxes of New Cast G county.
"By the State Auditors report O90S), IL
appears that the state received from New
- / fAAafatNfNNf
IL seems conservative estimate that
three-fourths OF this sum Is collected In
Wilmington.
I'm other words. the city Of Whining
ton Is expected TO contribute 70 the sup
port OF county and State mere than $S25,-
600 annually, and at a time when the city
Is compelled to borrow money for its own
utilities
1T is not clear just how much Of tho
above s325,OO0 IS spent to benefit Whining
ton. but Is safe to say The benefits should
be purchased for a far less sum, and some
of II should come directly to our own
treasury and be conserved TO our own
uses
''The subject Of the financial problem Of
wilmington is too large for mo TO even
outline in fun here All ] desire is to
make the pressing need plain;
'Ist. That the time has arrived when It
is necessary to exercise foresight and pre-
pare for the time when Si,o0OOOo more
bonds have been issued
"gd. urge upon Council to consider tho
advlsabiity OF an eQuaiized assessment
and the best means TO secure it. as the
first move towards reform, and In this
connection I may say, many persons in
, Wilmington and some OF them OF ample
, means pay little Of any taxes towards the
support OF utilities that they enjoy, such
, as police and fire protection, the streets,
/ parks. libraries, and schools which lat
ter alone costs the city an average Of
more than so for each scholar annually.
ed AS TO this idea Of a new city hall
we cannot afford il at This time. We can
afford to build city offices TO meet the
city's demands for years to come, and
that win include sanitary Police Depart
ment offices with a Council Committee
room cts, but as TO city Hall that our
, citizens can point to with pride, believe
, THAT owing to the condition of the city's
, finances, handsome City Hall is some
, thing that cannot receive serious con-
sideration for quite a period of years to
come.