The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-27
CITY AuDITOR'S
 ANNUAL REpOR '

movements. The Herring sewer plan has already proved it's value and while it has not been formally adopted by the city, all sewer improvements so far as practicable are planned along its lines and the expense incurred for the plan has been fully justified.
 l Now that city planning has been be- gun, it would be mistake not to con- tinuue It. A reasonable appropriation tthis year to supplement the appropria- ton made two years ago by the city
 added to the contributions of public. spirited citizens already made for the purpose, will place the matter on 8
 firm basis and enable the City Plan commission to do good work that will prove beneficial to the city and save many times the cost of p2an in avoid
 ing the mistakes of the future and
 remedying those of the past.
 Tax Abatements.
 I reiterate my previous statements I about the wholesale manner of abat- l ing taxes, assessments and interest 1 due every year. I am obliged to credit to the collector a very considera ble
 sum for abatements made of taxes and ! assessments and have no doubt that 1 the readiness to make such abate-
 ments request hampers the collec- tor in his work to some extent. For when abatements are to be had for the
 asking, people reason that they can delay payment of taxes and assess meIlts and at least secure the /abate<> ment of the interest penalty on some pretext or other.
 No allowance has heretofore been made by the Board of Apportionment and Taxation for such abatements but
 as it is such a large amount, it would I be wise hereafter to consider it in final
 statement. Abatements ought to be
 confined to meritorious eases when I people are unable to pay and are Hke-. ly to become public charges if pay
 m1ent is enforced or where error has crept in, which would render the col-e
 lection of the tax or assessment unfair or unjust.
 Tax Collection Methods. l have been of the opinion for many lyears that a decided improvement could be made by some changes in the. City Charter relative to tax co1lec- tions- At the present time, taxes are I due and payable in entirety, on the
 first day of April each year, and at least 75 per cent. of the entire tax is
 collected on or before June first each year. This gives to the city a, large sum of money for which it has no inn I mediate use and which is divided and placed among our local national banks and~trust companies and on which the city receives interest at the rate of two per cent per annum on daily bal ances. The city thus takes from the l pockets of it's taxpayers-its home Iowners, business men and manufac- 1 Iturers-money worth to them for use I in their business far more than the two per cent which the city receives
 for it's use and places it with the | banks to loan at a profit, in many I cases to the same persons who have paid it for taxes to the city. Would it not better to leave so 1 much of this money as the city does not need for immediate use where 1t
 will do the most good, in the pockets ifG Ia
 This result could be accomplished by making the taxes due and payable | twice a year in equal amounts, one | half on April 1st and the other one
 half on October 1st each year. and making the penalty for non-payInent
 apply on May 1st and, November 1st on such semi-annuaI payments. If the city can collect it's taxes as rap l idly as money is required for muni- | cipa1 uses that is all that is neces- l sary- On the other hand the prop l eTty owners ought not to be asked to
 part with their money until it is ac- l tualIy needed. While, under. this plan, the city would lose some in l terest if the proposed changes were l made, the resulting benefits to the
 taxpayers would more than offset this
 loss. In other words it would sub 1 stitute the taxpayers for the banks
 and trust companies as the benef1ciar- I ies of city funds which are temporal
 fly idle
 Fire Department
 1 If the common council had author ized, by ordinance, and created the i two-platOon system in this depart
 ment, would consider it my duty to
 provide in my recommendations. for
 making the changes effective But 1 this has not been done by that body, and I feel that ought not either to
 forestalI or to anticipate the council 1 action the matter, and I therefore l provide money sufficient to pay the
 salaries of the force as now consti- l tuted, thus reducing the salaries re- 1 quisition of the department by the
 sum of $4S.2o0, that being the in l creased sum called for by the pro
 posed changes requested by the com l Tnissioners- I believe that the entire
 motorizahon of the department is de-
 sirab1e and justifabIe and would
 greatly add to it's efficiency, and the
 s0oner it is done the better. pro- | vide the sum of $15,Oo0 for partial authorization only in my recommenda-
 lions to you I would like to see my
 way clear to provide for complete mo-
 torizStions but the money is not now available. trust that the balance 1 can be provided next time when some
 other city demands may not be as
 great as they are this year. When
 the department is completely motor ized and made as efficient as it can possibly be, our property owners 1 ought to profit as result thereof, by | obtaining lower insurance rates on i their property, for the insurance com | panies will surely be fair enough to | concede more favorable rates in a
 city like ours, where the fire depart
 rnent is so efficient and where money ] is so freely spent to equip it fully and | keep it up to modern requiren er1ts
 and where, too, the water supply not l only keeps pace with, but actually
 keeps ahead of, our other fire preven- 1 tive measures.
 1 But one other really important
 matter is still required, that is to
 strictly enforce our existing building