Putnam patriot., 1925-12-04
COMMUNICATION
Why Proposed Salaries For Certain City Officials Should Be Voted Dow n
Editor of The Patriot

Editor of The Patriot:
 have been urged to express to you my views on the proposed amend ment Co our City Charter. providing salaries to the mayor and aldermen ef the city. ahieh .s Co be voted on at the city election Co be held Monday, December 7
 In deciding this matter. we should first determine whether this is ne- cessary expense. During the thirty years 0f our city life. we have had many and able mayors and aldermen who have willingly sacrificed their time and efforts for the good of the city. especially during the times of special work. such as building the sewers issuing the city bonds, etc At present, there Is nc special work in view for these officials. and there Is no special need of this extra ex- pense. other than the fact that other cities pay their officers.
 In the very near future, Putnam must expend at least 00.000 and probably s150.000 for new water mains. reservoir and equipment which is absolutely necessary for the Water Department. 4 new addition must soon be made to the high or trade school. which will cost probably SZ0,- 900 Y our land titles are to be pro i tected. it Will soon be necessary to expend from $3.00O up upon some sort of a new index to the land re- cords Our police, fire and school de partments are constantly needing larger appropriations which are ah- s0lutely necessary.
 Our present tax rate. town and city combined, is thirtv-four mills on the dollar, which is A very high tax rate. With all these necessary expenses coming in the near future. what will our tax rate be few years from now Unless something is done and unless it Is done soon, we shall have 4 tax rate of fifty mills on the dollar.
 There is one remedy aud only one. That is an equalization of our tax valuation. Our present Grand List Is approximately six millions. We all know that we have at least fifteen millions of taxable property in Put nam if We are Co get new indus tries to occupy our vacant factories and provide work for our unemployed citizens. We must make Putnam an attractive location. When We say that our Grand List is only six million (which means fair sized village) and that our tax rate will soon be fifty mills. will new industries come Co Put nam2 Noi
 Why not face the facts as they are? IT we equallze our tax valuations, We can increase our Grand List to fifteen millions and decrease our tax rate to fifteen mills, and make Putnam one of the most attractive towns in New England for manufacturers and it Wll not cost us one cent more than We are paying today ia taxes
 To do this. WI must be careful not to spend a dollar of public money that is not absolutely necessary until we r4ualize our tax valuations. Other Wise, we shall never be able Co sell our bonds for the improvements 10 aur water system. and we shall never get OUT factories occupied, and Put nam wiil staenate.
 It. is said that the city officials vii accept only half of the compensation provided by the Legislature in this charter amendment That x not leR- ' 4lly possible We must vote yes or mo" on the whole amount We can not split or reduce it
 nm strongly in favor of paying all our public officials liberally if and when We can do so. but as one of the small taxpayers. but one of the com mon people whose daily bread depends upon the prosperity of Putnam l ap- peal to each voter of the city of | Putnam that f you wish to see Put. nam prosper. it is your duty to 20 to the polls nexl Monday and vote NO i on the question of the amendment Q ! the city charter
 Let us get our taxes equalized. i Let us make Putnam attractive Co out side industries. and in this way in crease our business. our population, and the amount of our taxable pro- lperty In this way and in this way alone can We make Putnam prosper eus and make our city grow. Then, We shall be in position Co pay our officials and nobody will be more anxious than to see this done Respectfully yours.
 NJ II CEISSIFR