Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-01
THE TOWN BUSINESS.

The following letter. signed A Tax Payer has been received concerning ths report of the selectmen:
 Tn your editorial Thursday t was stated that the report showed bal Ance on the right side of the ledger. If an not mistaken the town meeting last year voted an appropriation of f9,5s4 to be paid back to the lid,or dealers who paid it into the town pre- vious to prohibition. That has not been paid back Co them as yet, and ought to be on hand as liquor license money, nat eanouhaged as money on hand. The report shows a balance on hand of &9.b6T.1i. SO the fact Of The matter is. and believe you wiu fair5y publish # N you have been nisinfo-7ned. the town business went actually S26Sg in the hole. # that is not SO ] would be glad to be enlightened.
 when the appropriations were made year ago there was included the es- timates Se.5sf for taa money which had been received from liquor dealers and which t wcs expected the town would te directed % return Co them log. action of the legislature just the same as 1t
 
 t-t county and state would be ordered .urned back The legislature failed .o tuthorira any such return and there w-I be no possibility or such action uu- q. the legislature cr 1923 meets has much as that could not be paid this ,omtnr year the sslec.msr made no provision for t i1 their estimates. uey- s-the.ess being cornizant Of the moral obligation that rests u1o1 the town 10 uaks the return when proper authority .7 secu-ef
 The seieccme1 acted the same in re- gard 60 this item as they did concerning he money which has been pad out for nersased salaries for teachers under the expectation that r would be repaid by t-e state. This has been done for tWo years and the total amount is sl6.- Sss There is moral obligation on the part of the state 10 pay this and it is believed that it will be returned to the town but that cannot be done now until he 1923 legislature meets.
 Thus & is Go be realized that had the teiectuen included the Ss594 in the es- smated exDeuseq this year they would Also have been justified in including the iis.sss in estimated receipts. Such high financing would have permitted the IhoTing of an increase of $7074 in ha balance or total of S16.641.11 iu- sssd of ths balance Of S9,5s7.11 as re- Soried
 That. however. would have been deal ns ln uncertainties and a practice thst Houid have been open to criticism al r- money will offset the Iiauor licens money by over s7 .0o0 and the moral ob Iration in one case Is just as strong a in the other
 But further than that there is anothe feun which. because the amount wa. aot definitely known when the book. were closed and it is not deinitel, known now. was not included in the re port That concerns the sum of S2.50 which the Connecticut company will pa he town for work done for it on tn west Side bridge just as soon as tn work is finished. and it Is not probabl nat what remains to be done by tn town will exceed $500. so that some ming like s2.0o0 more might have bee included in the report had the SC ,sctrnen been willing to deal in uncer .aiuties and boost figures. Instead c shar they have dealt with the facts a hey are
 Through no fault of the selectmcn tn liqroS license money was not returned Whether it ever Is rests with the leg isiature. but when it is authorized in rsiectren have made sure that they wi lave adequate funds to meet 1t And ! me meantime the town business has nc gons In the hole and what Is bette there is no probability that 1t will whil lt remains In the same careful. consel raflve and bussnesslike hands that has been in for the past six years wher tns best interests of the taxpayers wi bs ssrved f 1t Is kept.