The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-13
SCHOOL YEAR TO BE REDUCED 2 MONTHS
 ON CUT OF $90,000;
 TO SELL 50 TEAMS
Departments to Be Abol- ished: Welfare, Humane, Weights and Measures, Meat and Milk Inspector, Recreation, Zoo, Street
 Sprinkling, City Physician

Following the recommendations and suggestions of the citizens committee of 100 the city commissioners of Blr mingham have prepared tentative draft of the budget for the next fiscal year that contemplates some of the most drastic cuts and curtaiIments ever put in effect in a southern city.
 By August 1, according to the present plans, the city will recede from the proud position of being one of the mosr progressive municipalities In the coun- try to the status of wayside village. It Is proposed to abolish all the so- ciaI service departments, to discontinue all appropriations to charity; to reduce the four big departments of the city. the schools, the street, the fire and the police one-third of their present stand ing; fo reduce salaries and to discon- tinue some of the city offices and of- ficers.
 For the first time in the history of the city. the city fathers have met n
 
 measures than borrowing money which did not solve it but only afforded tenn porary relief and later added to the difficulty.
 Departments to Be Abolished
 Among the departments that are to be abolished according to the budget so far as the city is, concerned are the welfare. ht1 zferl,te T milk inspector. recreation, Avondale Park zoo, crematories, charity appropriations. street sprinkling city physician. The i- brary department will be cut and there are other reductions
 All the big departments will be cut one third when the ax falls, as follows:
 Appropriation for public schools will be cut s9o,ooo, one-thrd of the present ap- propriation.
 Reduction of the fire department by one third, by laying off some of the fremen or eliminating some of the fire stations.
 One-third of the police department will be laid off and the remaining force put on a 12-hour shift.
 Curtailment of one-third will be made in the street lighting department and all street sprinkling will be abolished. Fifty of the ctys teams will be sold Other departments will be curtailed and smaller cuts made wherever 1t is possible. The city commissioners have had the matter under advisement for sometime and relief has been anticipated from the legislature. The cost of running the city on it's present basis is s1,22S,692 yearly. 1 The available funds for the ensuing year will be ss96, ,556. The cut proposed by the new budget will aggregate $S4o.ooO. leaving the bare margin of s7s27 on the credit side of the ledger. The two salary cuts heretofore made by l the commissioners have saved the city si40,0oO. These cuts have placed the sal aries of the city officials so low that the commissioners felt that further cuts in salaries are impossible. The loss from saloon licenses, which amounted to sl40,000, | nullifies the advantage from the cut in salaries.
 Reason for Action The drastic action of the commission was taken from the fact that even though the state legislature makes provision for submitting the proposed constitutional amendment granting the city the right to raise it's tax rate, it will be 12 months or more before results can be obtained The amendment could not be submitted in less than 30 days after the final adjournment of the legislature, and it would be next October before the increased rate could be collected
 The disposal of the garbage of the city will be a new problem for the city commissioners after August 1. They hope to make a contract with a private concern to collect the garbage that can not be dumped. They will also be con fronted with the problem of keeping the streets in repair as the city is not able either to buy material or employ free labor. The only alternative is to work the city prisoners on the streets. The city now has 100 teams. Half of