Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1912-12-27
MAYOR SMITH VETOEs
12-MlLL TAX LEVY.

Mayor Smith has vetoed the ordi-
nance passed by the city council At
It's Thursday night session providing
for "a two-mIl tax levy tor municipal
purposes. This tax. the mayor says,
is excessive, and in returning the or
dinance without his approval he ad-
dresses the following message to the
council:
THE running expenses OF the cry
are figured at S26,62O. but TO bring
It TO this amount there has been in
cluded $4,000 miscellaneous. and for
the engineers office $4,000. Under
the procedure which We have been
following, and which is proper, the
expense OF the engineers office is
taxed mainly against the street i'm
proyements. Cutting out the miscel-
llaneous and the difference between
what would actually be the cost of
the engineers office, would leave
Is23,62O.
For interest upon bonds you have
made an estimate of $5,2SO.OO. Two
thousand dollars Of this is already
provided for by moneys invested in
Improvement warrants. This would
leave s3,2S0, or a total OF $4,000.
In this levy you have also pro-
yided for interest upon the railroad
aid bonds to the amount OF 10000.
These bonds have not been issued,
and when issued, the moneys will
probably be received by the city in
installments. and under business
conditions existing in this commun-
ity, | believe that instead OF leVying
tax for the interest on the bonds,
the same should be paid for the first
year out of the principal, and this
amount of $4,000 should therefore
be eliminated from the levy.
For paving Fourth street the
council has provided 100000, max
ing a total of s29,9OO. You have es-
timated that the revenue from liquor
licenses will be $4,000, and from
other sources 100000. or a total
of 50 100000. This would leave s20,-
900 to be provided for by taxation.
From information gathered from the
county clerks office, | am OF the
opinion that when the state roll is
returned, the tax roll for Grants
Pass will be in excess Of s3,000,0 900.
A tax Of mills, therefore, would
provide $4,000; adding to this s6,-
600 for liquor licenses and $4,000
from other sources, would make to-
tai of $4,000 to meet an expense of
$29, 900, leaving balance of $4,000
to meet incidental expenses.
The auditor has compiled for me
a statement showing the amount of
warrants issued by the city since
January /, 1912, for running ex-
penses which amounts to SS0,305.
In this amount is included $4,000 of
bills for the year 1915 s1,050 paid
for real property and $1,000 for the
Evelyn Avenue conduit. Also $500
spent for exporting the city books;
about $500 for books of account for
the treasurer and the auditors office,
and the bill of Expert Wood for
$3.50, all of which is an expense that
will not be incurred during the en-
suing year The total of these
amounts aggregates $3.50 ana de-
Quoting this from the total of $30,-
3O5 leaves the actual running ex-
penses $24,O75. | believe 1t Will be
possible to make the running ex-
penses of the ensuing year even less
81 therefore request the members
OF the council to reduce this levy 10
mills. or possibly N mills, as
am satisfied it will provide sufficient
revenue to meet the expenses Of the
city.
The provision in our charter
about providing sinking funds is di-
rectory and not mandatory The
council has the right to use IT'S own
judgment In the matter, and 1t Ger
tainly would be a mistake to start
at this time sinking fund for
bonds that will not mature for at
least ten years"