The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-07-09
STAMFORD
 MAN FOR
 NEW CHARTER

 dent of the East Side plant of the American Tube & Stamping Co.,, and not a member of the charter com mittee. The. letter, which is very enlightening, speaks for itself:
 | The Times Publishing Company, | Bridgeport, Connecticut.
 Gentlemen:- | I have been very much interested | in reading the copy of the proposed | new charter for the town of Strat- | ford, as presented in your pubNca- tion. Thi., to me, appears to be the | one solution to overcome the d1fhcul- i l ties of high tax assessment; high rate i
 of taxation, with little to show for IL; fineficiency of town officials as evl- denced by the many appropriations in the town budget which have been | overdrawn and for which we, the tax payers, have got to pay, as it is a foregone conclusion that town or corporation of any kind is reSponsl- ble for the acts of it's agents, and therefore the amount of all funds ex- pended over the specified amount ap
 propriated in the budget as presented Ito the town meeting last October and 1 approved by same, will have to be in-
 cluded in next years budget as de- ficiency item and the taxpayer has got to stand it.
 1 Personally, cannot understand how any taxpayer or citizen of the
 town of Stratford can afford to let the | opportunity of securing new char ter for the government of the towns 1 affairs, pass.
 Every voter of this town should present himself at the polls next Monday and unanimously support the
 adoption of the council-manager form
 Of charter for our town. This char ter as presented, embodies everything
 favorable and acceptable to the
 property owner, giving him a chance at all times to be heard on all mat ters pertaining to town business, which, under the present form of government, does not exist It is true that we have our town meeuns' on which so much stress has been laid by some of the office holders and former office holders: but, when it is considered that there are approxl- the town and the town hall meeting room will not accommodate 400, be- ing 10 per cent. of the total number of voters of the town, the business Of f the town, so far as the town meeting is concerned, is referred and acted E upon by a very small percentage of E the people who are directly interested. F No means whatsoever are employed \ to prevent minors nOn-reS1dentS or \ the town from voting on any supJect k presented.
 K At the town meeting, held on We'd s nesday evening, July 9th, 1921, which, E by the way, was illegally called, not E having been recommended by the 5 Board of finance, as Section 6 on E Page of the present charter stipu- E Iates a striking example of the utter
  E present old Town charter, by the of s fcials of the town was manifested; /; B yet we must sit humb1y by and allow \ such matters or worse to go on, hav- E ing no redress in referendum and \ recall, as is provided for ill the Coun- s Manager form which is to be acted I upon next Monday, July 15th, 1921. At the informal meeting, held inn E mediately after the adjournment of \ the town meeting on Wednesday ! evening, the speaker, MT. Rice of New E Haven thoroughly convinced the audi I ence that he was entirely unfamiliar \ with the/ conditions in Stratford and 4 also equally unfamiliar with his sub ' ject, ''The Council-Manager Form of II Government" contradicting his own E remarks several times during the s time he consumed, at one time eSpec- z iaIly being asked by a listener if he
 considered the present town meeting = method adequate for town of 13, 900
 inhabitants, he replied in the nega-
 tive.
 Later, being propounded practical
 Iy the same inquiry by a person who
 had expressed his views as favorable
 to continuance of the present meth
 cd. he replied in the affirmative.
 It was also very noticeable
 throughout the discussion that the
 opponents to the new form of charter
 consisted of the former members of
 the defunct Stratford Republican | club, so called, augmented by the present OInClalS OI the lOWn IL SeeLlS
 rather unusual that forces so opposed
 to each other last October at the town
 election could have become anal
 samated at this time to oppose the in
 dependent voters who are anxious to
 | adopt a good, clean form of govern
 ment, which the people of the town,
 l (not the office-holders) have absolute = control of. The opposition endeavor-
 ed to present arguments, showing = that the people would have nothing | n adOnting n budget for the general expenses of the town over the fiscal year.
 Since being a resident of this com e munity and incidentally attending g. several town meetings, I have ob- y served that it has been a custom for the budget to be presented to the - | voters at the town meeting in October ,' or an adjourned town meeting and - approved in it's entirely by them
 then after being shown by figures pre-
 scented by the Board of finance that IC a certain rate of taxation is necessary in for the payment of the bill which they le have approved, they immediately re ID In fuse to adopt the rate shown to bt S necessary and lavy a lower tax ratt le which necessitates, in order to rais' D the funds to meet the total of tn, n. budget, the raising of the aSSeSSmen IT, on the list.
 n. This, to my mind, is very incon D sistent, as, if not met by increased = assessment as it was in the meetin;
 last fall, neceSSltateS carrying owe al to the succeeding year deficienc, n which must be paid eventually am . is merely only staving off the evi
 day of payment.
 pt Section No. 2S of the new Council -C. @-a..ao-o-. e-.r.-., -s oLa-to-- o--.;.-- .L: lg ioiiit oL Sne'l tei hNoius Ihi . cono1non' as the voter mas an oppor IT | tunity at the public hearing tn
 budget, (See Section No. 50) t K amend the budget as presented, thu " 1 o,,++inp off tho oxnaD5i+ura fro,,, +b ak - ty puoSeI pelore IL IS IIltue rdIner Ind i'd, to attempt to dodge the payment af
 ter it is authorized. This is a yer ne much more practical and business et like proceeding. If the readers vii ill consider section No 29, NO. 49 an ee, No. 50 with Section No. 2S, it will b d, readily seen that the matter of taxe Dp ye are covered thoroughly by giving tn ne voter and taxpayer the power to GU