Evening star., 1927-10-31
BY DONALD A. CRAIG.


new municipality in upper Prince
Georges County. adjoining Washing
ton, to be known as Maryland City. is
the tax question. Every resident, and
particularly every property holder, in
the % communities included in the
proposed area wants to know the an.
swer to this question:
VIII it cost more. proportfonately,
to run a city than it does to run our
little communities separately, and, if
so. will we get our moneys worth?
Every one comedies that If new
city is created as a separate tax dis
trict, collecting and spending money
for its own purposes, the most diff
cult problem to be met will he an
adjustment of the financial relations,
including bonded Indebtedness, be-
tween the county and new munici.
pality.
Committee Wants Figures.
A special committee of the Chamber
of Commerce of HyattSyille is strug-
Cling to answer questions regarding
the cost of the proposed city govern
ment, the tax rate that will be neces-
sary and the fiscal relations between
the projected city and the county.
On this committee are men from
for the city. Rough estimates of the
cost of a city government such as that
proposed have been made, and the
committee has invited criticism of the
figures, the members saying frankly
that many of them are in the nature
of guesses.
1t has been proposed by several
members of the committee that the
Hyattsville Chamber of Commerce
send an expert to Hagerstown to find
out what it costs to run that city, in
order that some idea may be formed
of the probable cost of Maryland City.
Hagerstown. the third largest city in
Maryland has a population of about
$1,000. Maryland City would be the
fourth largest city in the State, with
an estimated population of about
10000.
All estimates of revenue for the
proposed new city made thus far have
taken for granted that a separate tax
district would be created; or, in other
words, that the new municipality
would be entirely divorced, at least so
far as its financial affairs would be
concerned. from Prince Georges Coun-
ty. This is assuming more than any
one has right to expect, in the opin-
ion of some critics of the scheme, who
say that the Maryland Legislature
would never consent to a separation
of this populous area from the rest
of the county, and that, even if the
Legislature We're willing, it could not
be made into a completely independent
city, like Baltimore, without an
amendment to the State constitution.
These are legal and legislative ques-
tions yet to be threshed out.
Tax Feature of Plan.
An essential feature Of the plan in
the minds of most of it's advocates is
that the present county tax Of $1.62 on
each 500 Of assessed valuation of real
property should be paid no longer to
the county, but to the city. To this
tax they add 3S cents on each 500 of
assessed value, which they figure as
the average of the taxes now collected
by the nine incorporated towns in the
proposed city area. The next step in
estimating the revenue which would
be available for running the new city
is to estimate the assessed value of
property within. the area on the basis
Of the new assessment now in progress
at approximately s25000,000. This,
say the promoters of the scheme, is a
fair estimate, since the present as.
sessed value Of property in the area
is nearly $4,000, 900, which is bound
to be increased substantially.
Arthur p. Owens, chairman of the
committee of inquiry, adds the present
county tax of $162 to the average of
the town taXes-38 cents-and arrives
at 81 as the tax which would be avail.
able for the city. Applying this to an
estimated assessed value of $2s, 900 900,
he says that the city would have
100000 in annual revenue without in.
creasing the average Of taxes in the
towns.
1t is admitted. Of course, that some
of the towns, which are now collect
ing for their own purposes a tax of
less than the average, would have to
pay more, and that Hyattsville, for
instance, which collects town tax of
55 cents, would pay less than at pres
ent. 1t is contended by advocates of
the plan, however, that the smaller
communities would reap benefits from
the slight tax increases which would
make them more than willing to stand
the increases once the new city gov.
ernment got into operation.
Advocates of the consolidation In.
sist, moreover, that elimination of
duplicate efforts in many civic lines
would result in savings, and that the
benefits to be derived from combined
financial system would be greater than
might appear from a superficial exam
ination of the situation.
Tentative Budget Compiled.
When the committee OF inquiry
came to consider the question of city
expenditures it had little in the nature
Of real information to base it's esti.
mates upon. In the course Of couple
Of hours the members informally dis
cussed the probable cost of various
branches Of the proposed city govern
ment and made up a tentative budget.
They had no expert advice. Friends
OF the proposal think that the figures
are near enough to reality to warrant
serious consideration. Others look
upon them as the widest Of guesses.
Brice Bowie of Riyerdale, a member
OF the Board of County Commission.
ers, expressed the view of the most Of
the committee when he remarked:
We'll. these figures Will serve as
something TO shoot at. If they are
wrong, or If we have left out anything
very important. we will soon find it
out after they have been published"
No attempt was made to estimate In
! detail the probab cost of running the
new city, but in round numbers 1t was
| figured as follows:
Mayor. or city manager ..... $4,000
| City Council, total salaries ....... 300
! City treasurer ................... 5000
| Clerk Observation-Disclosures. 1000
Corporation council ............. 5000
Police force e.................. $4,000
Fire Department. ..............,.. 2500O
Garbage collection. etc. ........... 1900
| school superintendent. ....,...... 5000
! Maintenance of schools and taking
care of bonded Indebtedness So. 40 600
| Maintenance of roads or streets. .. .. 100 900
This would bring the estimated cost
OF the city to 1858 900 a year, without
| considering new construction of any
sort or such expenses as those for a
court, provided the city is divorced
from the county; other judicial ex-
pcnses. general administrative ex-
Ecnscs, health department and other
thingS lnmnel aS ''inCidcntala !" for