The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-01
WESTPORT HEATED DISCUSSIONS
 AT TOWN MEETING
Special to The Farmer)

town meeting held Saturday afternoon
 for the purpose of laying tax rate
 for the ensuing year, to see if the
 town would authorize the purchase of
 an adding machine for the town cf-
 fee, and to instruct the selectmen in
 regard to the bath houses at Compo Beach.
 The meeting was called to order by
 Town Clerk Joseph G. Hyatt at two
 o'clock, with about sixty men present.
 Thomas D. Adams was chosen chair
 man of the meeting. The minutes of
 the last town meeting were read af-
 ter which the question of the tax rate
 was brought before the house. On
 request of those present. Assessor Ed
 mund c. Smith stated that the grand
 corrected by the board of Reief
 amounted to $4,793.911, upon which a
 one mill tax would net the town $4,-
 793 the town basing the rate upon
 those figures. In regard to the
 amounts which have already been ap>
 propriated for the expenses of the
 year, Thomas c. Stearns of the school
 board stated that as ye, no appro-
 pration had been made for the
 schools, but that he felt that S25,000
 would cover the necessary expendi-
 lures. Franklin M. Raymond then
 read list of the necessary expenses
 for the year, which showed a total of
 
 amount of the moneys received by the town other than the taxes, Robert w..
 Post was unable to get any clear or satisfactory answer. William H. Burr
 then stated that at the increased valu- ation this year. even an 12 mill tax would be a burden to the smaller property owners, and therefore felt that it would be unjust to raise it higher than that amount. The high salary paid to the present town off. cials came in for share of his dis cussion. which he concluded with a motion to lay a tax rate of eight and one-half mills, which was seconded by William H. Petrie. The amount which would be raised at that rate would be about $4O,O0O and Edward S. Ryan wanted to know if it were cheaper to borrow the amount necessary to com. plete the expenditures at per cent interest, or to lay more moderate tax to cover it in the first place. William H. Petrie, then remarked as follows: ''To raise the taxes we scare people away from the town, if they ever thought of coming; we want to help improve the people and the place
 and we cannot if we raise the taxes too high.' George P. Jennings then recommended that a certified account ant be employed to go over the towns accounts and get an accurate balance sheet, so that one could know to a
 certainty just how matters stood. Har- ry R. Sherwood, a former auditor, stated that he had never had any trouble in "squaring up'' the books, ed up on account of the borrowing methods used. The sum of 34,9O0 was borrowed last year, by vote of town meetings and otherwise, which was promptly forgotten by everyone until reminded of the fact that their tax rate was not large enough to cover all expenses, as nothing could be done with rate as low as 1-2 mills. MT. 1 Petroie again arose and became quite heated in his remarks in defense of the low rate. He felt that the bills should be more carefully audited than at present and that it should be known just who did work, and wheth-
 cussion Robert W. Post moved that a tax rate of nine and one-half mills be laid which was not seconded. He quoted the methods of Ridgefeld and other small towns around us in the | matter of taxes, whereupon MT. Petrie
 again heatedly remarked that other towns should not run the affairs of the town of Westport. Samuel A. Purdy then offered an amendment to the motion that a ten mill tax be laid, which brought protest from William H. Burr, who made the first
 motion. MT. Burr said, '"The only way for us to do business is to have a finance committee to look up all the matters regarding the case in hand and not lay tax of any kind until they tell us just how much money we need, how much money our town officials receive, and how the officials spend the money they do have.'' ! Franklin M. Raymond then had a few remarks upon how unjustly our town l officers are criticised, but he was in favor of having board of appor- | tionment, to go over all the towns expenditures. He cited an instance of where s90 was paid on a bill. above the amount of the contract price for the service rendered, which | amount was simply graft from the | town. Figures were then shown as to | the amounts of the towns expenses | for the past four years, which were as follows: 1908, $49, 900; 1909, $40. 900; | 1910, $51 ,0OO; 1911, s52, 300. At that rate | the town would. have to borrow about 1 amount needed. if the tax rate were | laid at 1-2 mills. The motion for an amendment to ten mill tax was | then put to vote and lost. The Ori- | ginal motion for an eight and one- | half mill tax was then voted upon and carried. The tax rate for the ensuing year is therefore 8 1-2 mills. l The next business was to decide whether or not an adding machine be | purchased for the use of the town of | ficers. Samuel A. Purdy, made mos | tion that an electrically operated ma- chine be purchased at S425, fifty dol- lars more than the price of the hand operated machine Both Mr. Purdy l and Assessor Smith told the meetings l of the great help the machine would | be, and also showed the greater accur- | acy to be secured by the use of it. | Much discussion was then had in re- i gards to whether or not the salaries | of the officers would be reduced in | consequence of their having less work | to do with the use of the machine. | Motion was put to a vote and de- | clared carried by the chair, but this | was doubted and Harry R. Sherwood | and Edward c. Nash were appointed | tellers to take and count a rising | vote on the question. The vote thus l taken showed 20 for purchase and 25 | against and the motion was declared 1 lost accordingly.
 l Next came the matter of the bath l houses The selectmen were asked by 1 John Godillot to state the amounts re- l ceived and expended on the bath houses at present. Selectman Robert | H. Coley answered, saying that it was hard to state the exact amount | as many changes were going on there. l The present rental rates are $4, $6 and 1 s. according to their size, and about | s1 900 is taken in, with an expenditure | of about $750.
 | William H. Burr then went into a | lengthy discussion upon the matter of | renting a part of the houses by the 1 bour Co that rich and Door alike