The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1914-11-26
LITTLE HOPE OF REDUCTION
Gains Made by Assessment Are Bal
anced by Increase for School Funds
and Big Loss to the City From Col.
lection of Income Taxes.

The finance committee of the com
mon council has started work on the
making of the tax levy for the year
and the report will be submitted to the
members Of the common council at the
meeting to be held on the first Monday
in December. The members of the com
mittee have not as yet reached point
in their consideration of the tax prob
lem where they are able to say that
there will be any increase or reduction
in taxes for the coming year, but they
have discovered that it is going to take
a lot Of money to pay the running ex-
penses of the city in 1915.
The year just closing has been a de-
cidedly quiet one along the lines of
public improvements. There has been
little street paving or sewer building,
but at that the council is going to face
big deficit in the general fund at the
end of the year This deficit can only
be guessed at the present time, but it
is certain that it will be we'll over
$4,000. A considerable amount will be
added to the deficit by the fact that
the city has in the past few weeks
started to keep unemployed men of the
city at work for at least a part of their
time The schools of the city are going
to cost $4,000 more next year than
they did this year and there will have
to be a levy Of $4,000 to pay the
hydrant rentals to the water company.
Then there will be some increase in the
amount to be set aside for the paw
ment of bonded indebtedness and inter
est or bonds. On the other hand there
will be some large reductions of bud
gets which entered into the makeup of
the tax levy last year. The state tax
to be paid by the city will be some
twenty thousand dollars less than last
year. The county tax will also show a
reduction and it is not improbable that
this will amount to $4,000 on the right
side of the ledger. Then the committee
will get big help in making the mill
tax from the fact that the assessed
valuation of the property of the city
has been increased more than $4,000, 900
this year. This increase with levy
OF fifteen mills the amount levied last
year, would mean an increase in the
amount of taxes collected of $75 1000
However this is not all velvet as when
the assessment of personal property was
raised the assessors brought cores
ponding decrease in the amount that
the city will receive as income tax.
Last year the city had net of more
than 100000 from the income tax and
this year there is grave doubts as to
whether or not the total of this tax
will amount to more than half this
amount. The increase in the personal
property tax is especially pleasing to
the officials of the city as all Of this
tax collected gets into the city treas
ury while in the past and at the pres
emit time the city gets but seventy per
cent of the income tax collected
Losses and gains in the tax budget this
year seem to be pretty close to a stand
off and the one best bet seems to be
that the mill levy made last year
fifteen mills-win be assessed against
the city again this year. The members
of the committee in charge of making
the levy are Aldermen Shearer. Thorn.
ely and Gundlach.