New Britain herald., 1929-10-05

are many, many things that the average householder sees. even in his own neighborhood, that he ought 10 be getting for his tax money, but ! isn't. The city, of course is in bad financial straits, has been for years and will be for years to come. un- less someone has courage enough to levy and collect a special tax that will clear up the bonded indebted- ness-and at the same time. prob ably, almost start a civil war.
 Waterbury property owners can protest until they are black in the face and still will see the tax rat" steadily increase. The city fathers are so desperate that they have be- gun kidding themselves about eN- pensos. They deliberately cut items in the city budget. last year. to fig ures that they knew would not be- gin to cover expenditures IL looked good in the budget total. and lt helped in some items that were more conspicuous. to chop tho snow removal item to a ridiculous figure, but it didn't get the snow of the citys streets last winter. Other oX- amples beyond number exist along like lines.
 What good will it do Waterbury 10 protest, as New Britain property owners are protesting? No good at all. The salvation of the city's finances is sound business admin istration that will squarely face the deficit for few years and enable the city, through increased taxes, to work it's way back toward the utopia of lower taxes. Ii takes courage to start such a campaign far more courage than the average politician has The immediate re- suit is q howl Of protest from tax payers who cannot see any further than their check book balance or Oct. 3. Neither candidate, seeking election in the coming mayoralty campaign in Waterbury. is likely to make the fatal political error of starting such move,
 Waterbury reminds one of the other extrcme-the city that is gov erned along sound sensible lines, has low taxes, gets improvements. makes progress, in short. And there are such cities-believe it or not,
 Out in New York state there $ a community that has no protests from ctizcns-at least not cn masse. It is community of abou; 50. GOO people. made up of home owning, frugal people, who are awake to what is happening in their city and have so much voice in it that they are really getting 100 per cent businesslike govern ment, This is the city of the other extreme. Of course there are Oth- CTS throughout the east that more or less approach its record
 This city has well paved streets. IL paves many Of them out of cur rent revenue. It owes very little money. II is installing q sewage disposal plant that is model for small cities. It has an excellent water system. almost entirely pail for. Its schools are Of high stand ing-and it does not require its pu- pills 10 buy their own books. It has q municipal electric light plant that offers lower rates than the privately owned public utility. It has municipal market that is making money. Ii runs it's own hospital and runs it so cheaply that you can afford to be sick. It builds it's own bridges, instead of letting them to contractors who make fat profits, and it does almost all of its own public works department work in similar fashion. This. brief ly, is what it has to offer. Result: Taxes recently were somewhere around 26 to 2S mills or $26 to $2S thousand, as they figure it out there, on property valuation of about Go to 75 per cent of market value.
 If the people Of this New York state city started a move to re- ducc taxes they might have a real chance, for they live ill the sor. of city where taxes can be reduced even luFlnef, by Scrlmplng little on improvements. They run the city with careful eye, however, and they know what they are getting for their money They are satisfied that their money is being well spent. Therefore they have no reason 10 kick about taxes.
 Let some of the New Britain Citizen-property owners think these facts over. They are not offered as a remedy for the local situation. but as an observation only. At least they present interesting material for comparison. Connecticut Lakes Become Mud Flats
 This week s rainfall WAS a cyrcat l