The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-28
Director Courtade Says Plan Is to Lay 42 Miles of Patented Pavement at Cost of More Than Million Dollars.
Projects Discussed Would Plunge City Into Debt Far Beyond the Legal Limit for Bond Issues for Mu-
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~Forty-two miles of tWarrenite, at a total cost of over one million dollars!
 This is the administrators pro- gram, meagre details of which leaked out in the early hours of the session, yesterday, of Mayor Wilson's advisory committee.
 But aRefore the meeting had ad- Journed the plan was well detailed.
 Director of Public Works Courtade questioned by members of the com nnittee said that the total street pave ment of Warrenite considered was AZ miles, and the cost would be $1,0OO,- O00.
 He said it cost $3,000 per mile to lay and maintain water-bound macadam including two coats of oil per year.
 He said there are 67 miles of streets on which water-bound macadam has been laid in this city and that the cost of maintaining this properly would be $225,00O per year whereas the apportionment board allowed only $35, 1000 last year. He said but $1O,000 was allowed for the repair of dirt roads of which there are S6 miles in this city.
 He favored laying more Warrenite roads because he claimed it cost but $500 per mile to sweep and care for them and Warrenfte roads are kept in repair for five years by Warren Bros. Co. Chairman John T. King of the board said that at the expiration of the five-year guarantee the Warren Bros would put a flushing over the old surface and fill it with gravel and thefe would be a new Warrenite road way again. This he said could be. done for about seven cents square yard.
 DeVer H. Warner said he considered eLI-. icaI investment ever made by city. Frank Miller favored Warrenite but thought it should be laid on a con- crete base.
 9There is one job of warrenite in Bridgeport that is very poorly laid,'' declared MT. Miller. Clinton avenue, above Fairfield avenue, which was laid down last summer, is full of humps and as wavy as Long Island Sound. If you drive an automobile through there at night and meet another one coming toward you with lights set you have to just crawl along or take a chance of going into the ditch.''
 MT. Warner said it cost him $4,O00 way in repair from Fairfield to Green field Hill. He favored laying the War renite as soon as possible.
 A discussion of the finances of the city brought out the statement that bank deposits are not taxed for any thing like full value. MT. King said he knew one bank which carried an average of seven millions and the de- posits were assessed as amounting to $147,00 This brought reply from MT. Miller that it was unfair to tax this money because it was the sinew on which all the business of the city was transacted and that the money s9F length of time but was constantly changing hands.
 After a discussion as to the limit to which bonds could be issued most of the members agreed that no at tempt should be made to go the limit but a margin should be maintained to care for any emergency which might come up later.
 City Auditor Heating told the board he believed the grand list would be increased by at least five millions this year, probably more. It is possible, he said, the state~tax board might jack it up even more, rasing the proportion of Bridgeport'S contribution to the state, and thereby decreasing the rev enue for city use.
 In answer to a question from MT. King he said that much of the prop erty which had not changed hands in from 25 to 30 years was not assessed enough and that a readjustment Of such property values should be made by the assessors. He was opposed to bonding for public schools because he said from one to three wereb ui1t every year in the past and the one mill set said from one to three were built every the buildings. For pavements, sewers, and bridges he favored bonds that would run nearly the life of these inn provements; from 50 to 70 years for bridges, long terms periods for sewers and for pavements from five to eight years if the Improvements were to last 10 years. He favored bonding for high school because such building would last a generation.
 MT. Miller said there should be no hesitancy about bonding for public l Improvements which are not greatly | needed. ''The time to build a city is l when it is expanding he said. That is why the cities of the west are so 1 far ahead of us in public improve I ments." 1