The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-10-31
CITY MANAGER
CUTS TAX RATE
C!arinda Qa.) Treasury Balance
Increases From $4,000 to
$4,7OO in Four Years.

Clarinda, Ia.-Clarinda has jus
completed a four-year experiment II
city government. Four years ag'
| Clarinda engaged a manager to rul
the town. That manager has just re
signed to go to GAINESVILLE, Wis. Blu
| Clarinda is SO proud OF Its onemaI
| government that 1t wants to tell thu
world all about 1t.
When Clarinda began talking "city
| management" five or six years age
there was very little information tc
be had on the subject The system
was new. People thought 1t should
work out all right, but didn't know
what to expect from the plan. But
Clarinda now knows.
Paid Cash for Everything.
The city manager Henry Traxler,
took office on April 1, 1919. On that
day there was a balance in the city
treasury of $4,000. After four years
of one-man management, the city's
balance is $44,700.
The tax rate has not been raised.
1t actually has been lowered. Many
thousands of dollars worth Of i'm
proyements have been made, and Cla-
rinda has paid cash for everything.
Clarinda got In those four years
100 cents worth for every dollar it
spent for material and labor. 1t did
not bother itself to find out if a Re
publican could clean more square
yards of pavement than Democrat,
or whether a Socialist was better
worker than a Prohibitionist. An en-
ployees politics was lost sight of COM
pletely. All he had to do was to work,
no matter how he voted.
Some of the Results.
Here are some Of the improvements
Clarinda has made in the last four
years:
Installed a new water publication
system; bought an armory and made
1t serve also for city business build
ing; purchased a municipal cemetery;
laid many miles of new paving Cost
ing $165, 900 in 1921 alone); rebuilt the
fire station and added new apparatus
kept up the ordinary repairs to all
city property.
While other towns and cities were
voting and issuing bonds right and
left and fastening a heavy debt on
coming generations, Clarinda paid its
way as it went and did not issue a
single bond.
Furthermore, while taxes were
skywards in other cities and
towns, Clarinda actually cut its tax
rate. In 1916 the tax levy was 421a
mills. This year it was AZ mills, in
Guiding a 2-mill levy for the munich
pal band
Saved $4,000 in Fees.
Among the Jobs of the city man
ager was that of handling the munich
pal waterworks. Clarinda is proud of
Its water system. 1t is called the best
in southwestern Iowa, and its rates
are quite bit lower than in other
cities of the same class. On April 1,
1919, the water works balance was
S27. Now it is more than $4,000. In !
the meantime, the plant has been !
built up to the minute and pays all |
overhead, costs of operation and re- |
placements.
The armory cost the city $4,000 |
and $4,000 additional was spent to |
nodernize the building so that it |
could be used for offices as well. Part |
)f the building not used by the city /
S rented for $4,000 year, which more |
han pays all expenses. The building /
llso is used by the band, and the
auditorium is reserved for public af-
airs without expense.
The cemetery, bought by the city
manager for $4,000, now has $1,000
n its maintenance fund.
While the city was spending $685.
O0 for paving, the city manager, who
tlso is an engineer, took charge of the
'aving program and in one year saved
he town $4,000 in engineering fees.