The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-11-11

Alderman Charles Gundlach of the
eighth ward chairman of the finance
committee of the common council has
sent out call for a meeting of the
committee on Thursday afternoon at
the city hall at which time the first
serious work in making up the 1916
budget will be taken up by the COM
mittee. "It's hard to tell just what
can be done in fixing the count of the
taxes for the coming year. said Alder
man Gundlach in discussing the plans
of the committee. re are a good deal
at sea. The city clerk is busy prepar-
ing a table which viii show just what
must be paid out of the 1916 taxes,
and the members of the finance com
mittee of the school board and the in
dustrial board will meet with us tomor-
row. Of course the one biggest item
in the tax levy is the school money.
feel that the $4,000 allowed to the
Industrial Board of Education is money
well spent. These schools are doing a
great work in Kenosha and [ regret
that it is not possible to give them
more money for the extension of this
work The fifteen thousand will be an
increase of $4,000 over the amount al
low n iii forme years and 4T should
make possible some of the extensions
planned. There are some Of the alder
men who believe that the regular school
budget should be cut It amounts to
more than $4,000. A small amount
of this is to be used for the purchase
of the 'FBonny Hence property and
some of the members of the council do
not appear to be wholly in sympathy
with this plan. Of course we hope to
iron out all objections to the budget
before it is presented to the council.
The chairman of the various COM
mittees have not as yet filed their
estimates for the coming year but we
have no reason to believe that any Of
them will be smaller than they were
last year. No member of the com
mittee is making any prediction on the
amount of the levy. It will be impos-
sible to make even a guess until after
we have gone into these matters at is
sue. If we get small reduction in the
amount for school money it will help
just that much.
The chairman of several of the COM
mittees are insisting on more money
for next year. During the past year
the fire and police departments have
been enlarged so that an appropriation
the same as last year would not be suf-
fcient to meet the bill for wages and
salaries to say nothing of providing
for expenses incidental to the operation
of the departments. It is certain that
there will be demand for more money
for sewers and paving for next year and
street work is going to demand more of
an expenditure. Even the contingent
fund will want more money next year
as there has been an increase in the
calls made on this department. The
parks want more money and with the
addition of more ground to take care
of it is probable that the appropria-
ton will have to be increased.
The fifteen mill levy on a thirty-two
million dollars valuation will raise
considerable sum of money but the
committee is not counting on getting
any large amount out of income tax.
The payment of the various bonds
falling due next year will make a big
hole in any thing that may be levied.
The total of the bond payments alone
will be well up to the hundred thousand
dollar mark and the interest will in
crease the budget for these purposes.
The report of the committee will not
be ready until the first Monday in
December and the members Of the COM
mittee expect to hold many meetings