St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1916-04-08
Request for Election for Wa.
terworks for Town of
Covington Granted
by the Council.
SCHOOL MATTER PRE-
SENTED BY SCHWARTZ
Capt. Weaver's Proposition
to Take Over and Main
tain Wharf Laid On
the Table.

The meeting OF Tue COtlNklOu
town council last Tuesday was quite
a busy one, several very important
matters coming up. The ordering
OF an election for the purpose Of vot-
ing q tax for water~0rks. appears
in this issue of The Farmer, with
the ordinance in full. There seems
to be but small opposition and it is
safe to say the election will be car
ried for waterworks. The matter
was brought up by +. j. Domergue, 4
E. G. Davis and H. A. Mackie, who
appeared as committee from the
Association of Commerce.
Capt. D. H. Weaver proposed to
the town to take charge Of the what
and keep 1t in condition, II he was
given exclusive use of same. This
request was tabled.
1t was intended to present and o.
dinance levyinE a tax on vehicles and
automobiles, but so much had to be
disposed of that the matter was neg
lected.
A committee from the Parish
School Board. composed Of President
N. H. FdtzSimons, superintendent
Lyon and Adrian D. Schwartz, at
torney for the Board, appeared be-
fore the council for the purpose of
securing a recognition of indebted
ness due the Covfngton high school
by the town council to the extent
of about $4,000. which is needed to
defray the payment Of the amount
due on the school furniture.
Both Mr.. FitzSimons and Mr..
Lyon discussed with the council the
necessity for some immediate action
of their part. They ware followed
by Mr.. Schwartz, who spike III part !,
a. follows:
Two years ago was mem Der
OF the same committee which pre-
sented this claim to the cOINc rela-
tive to the purchase Of the necessary
sclicol furniture to equip TIA Iovins-
i'll high school. and at that time this
body appropriated $50e, anl il was
the understanding tha. the balance
Of the debt contracted 70. woald be
:aken care of by the council vi;nc;:t
eM. to the School Board:
Ts.,c indebtedness was contracted on
the strength Of assurances whlci,
were given by this council.
while we appreciate that at the
present the town 10 hampered on ac-
count of the lack Of funds with
which to meet its obligations. still.
it would mean much to relieve the
embarrassment which EXISTS with re-
.spect to the school furniture claim,
to have the town recognize the In
debtedness and put It in tangible
shape, so that it could be taken care
Of out of future budgets. 1t would
be sufficient il the interest on the
claim to the extent of about 5000
could be taken care of at present.
And now. gentlemen, in connec-
ton with the question Of future bud
gets, we are confronted with a very
serious proposition. / refer to the
hopelessly irregular and crippled
condition into which the assessments
of the town of Coyington have de-
toriated, and which make it ahso,
lutely necessary that some action be
taken by this body at once to have
1t corrected.
''You are the sworn administrar
tors Of this community, and the re-
sponsibility rests at your doors icr
the fact that the corporation Is In
an apparently insolvent state. due to
no other cause than careless and
negligent condition existing in the
assessment rolls. The assessments
should be eQualized, not raised; and
il they are properly eQualized there
should be at least $1,5O0.O00 worth
OF property on the rolls. or one-haf
more than at present is accounted
for"
The speaker then proceeded to
give a number Of specific instances
where certain assessments were en-
tirely too high. and others SO ri
diculously low that there was no ac-
counting for the fact.
After further discussion along the
same lines by Mr.. Robt. l.. Aukert
the council passed motion appoint
ing q committee to report back at a
special meeting on next Tuesday for
the purpose OF looking into reform
of the assessments and devising ways