The Winslow mail., 1926-04-23

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| over a definite period, namely, a
| year. This limitation as to time
is necessary in order to make the
estimates of expenditures as accur-
| ate as possible and to permit the
appropriation Of definite amounts
from revenues available or antici-
! pated. 1t does not necessarily fol-
low that all financial planning for
the city should be limited to the
immediate needs expressed in the
budget. Indeed, a much broader
view should be taken of the needs
of the city government.
Most successful commercial con-
Germs plan the development of their
business over a long period of
years. City governments, many of
which spend millions annually,
seldom have any plan for the de-
velopment of their work extending
over more than a few months. This
short-sightednes with reference to
planning undoubtedly leads to
waste and inefficiency. The city
administration usually takes little
interest in planning for several
years on account of the frequent
changes in office due mainly to our
system of periodic elections. But
this should not prevent longtime
planning, although it may tend to
dull the interest of city officials.
The cities throughout the coun-
try are realizing this important
feature of the administration OF
the city's affairs more and more
and are looking ahead and making
plans for development and improve
ments covering number of years
instead of for the present only. By
doing this they know what eXpend-
itures for running expenses and
necessary improvements will be re-
quired over the period of years and
also approximately what revenues
will be available. With this infor-
nation at hand they are able to
show those making demands upon
the city treasury just what effect
each demand will have if granted
and why it should be granted, post
poned or abandoned and are thus
able to keep the tax rate equable
over the period of years. If all of
the expenditures of the city are
not forecasted, certainly those
should be that relate to public i'm
provements. 1t is little wonder
that municipal tax and debt bur-
dens continue to pile up when such
harum-scarum methods are used
in meeting the city's problems.
AS an example of improper plan
ming and financing government ex-
penditures, case right at home,
may be cited In 1910 the Town
of Winslow issued $4,000 worth of
bonds for the construction of a
sewer system. Those planning the
system did not forsee the future
growth of Winslow and installed
a system of sewer lines to take care
of the then present needs. Wins
low has more than doubled in pop
ulation since 1910, and more indus
tries have started operation with
consequent increase in the use of
water to such an extent that the
present sewers are just about taxed
to their capacity because of the
small size of the lines. Grades
were established which prohibit
the extension of sewer lines to the
subdivisions being added to the
town unless costly expenditures are
made to run new mains. The pro-
vision under which the bonds were
issued provided for the setting aside
of certain amount each year for
their redemption. This provision
was lost sight of or no heed was
paid to it for a sinking fund was
not created until 1928 If a sink
ing fund had been created the first
year and the money deposited or
invested so as to yield 8 per cent
interest compounded semi-annually
the yearly deposit required could
have been approximately $500 and
during the life of the bonds it
would have been necessary for the
taxpayers to deposit only about
$4,000 and the balance of the $40,
900 would have been earned in in
terest By delaying the creation
of sinking fund until 1923 makes
it necessary to deposit almost $1700
a year for eighteen years, or to-
tai deposit of 100000 and only $10,-
900 will be earned in interest. This
represents a direct loss of $4,000
on the improper financing alone
and if the town continues to grow
in the future as it has in the past,
and everything indicates that the
growth will be more rapid, the old
sewer system will have to be aban-
doned within the next ten years
and a new and larger system in
stalled. All of this will take place
before the original system is paid
for
The above illustration shows
clearly that unless city has its
financial functions or activities sys-
tematically organized the conduct
of it's business will be more or less
hampered, the cost of it's admins
tration will be greater, and losses
will often occur through bad man
agement for which official respon-
sibility cannot be fixed. Organiza-
ton along modern lines is necessary
to scientific budget making, as we'll
as responsible administration in
our city government.
Before 1900 very little attention
had been given to the strictly fin
anciaI organization of city govern