The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-09-07
In 'Today's Mail
 Anohymous letters will not be accepted unless accom-. panied with writer's name.
DEFICIT INSTEAD OF CASH BALANCE FIGURED OUT
 BY ARITHMETICIAN
September {, 1887. Waterbury, Conn, .a.n., nana.,onnL

Waterbury, Conn. Editor, Waterbury Democrat,
 Dear Sir: 5,. #..l
 Tn Thursday evenings edition of The Waterbury Democrat there Ap- peared on the first page,, in large type the most alnaEinS statement, that tho City of Waternury had a cash balance, as of June 90, 1887, of $3, 3,666, ,023.36. There was also the notation that Q statement could be found 6n another page. In refer ring to this page and upon looking over the different sections of thlS report I fail to see where the city actually has oil this money or will have any part of 1t on December 3l, 1887.
 I will try to explain as best I con why l think tho city Is not aS well fixed with such an abundance of cash as stated. ,., ~.
 For instance In Part IV-the Summary of Cash Balances-the auditor takes credit for part of the two and one-half million dollar short term note In anticipation Of taxes which amounts to ono million dol. lars-but in setting up the appro. priationS hc makes no provision for paying 1t back nor does he take any credit for dishursing one and one. half million already paid back. No doubt when the budget was made up, tho two and one-half million was not borrowed. Nevertheless, he can not accept the money on one hand and diSaVow the note on the othcr--not to my way Of req. soning.
 And again--if there isn't any set up in Part V for tho disbursem ant of ono and one.half million in Bond and Special Funds then tho impression should not be conveyed that this money can be used to help out in the payment Of the balance of the appropriations,
 As far as I can sec there has been no provision made in Part V to pay off tho remaining one and one-half million in short term notes 50 that from the cash on hand this should be deducted which leaves only S2,- 60b,02S.36 which the city actually owns. If the balance of Si,36o,. 037.84 for Bond and Special Funds arc not used in the paying up oi the balance of the budget, only Si.. 30808D.6i can be used to help pay off the appropriations plus What- ever collections are made in Novem. ber for taxes yet due on the io36 Grand list. This item probably will not run over two million because believe c great many Ns the tax. payers pay tho full amount in May In order to get discount and also there Is always e certain amount of back taxes.
 It all boils down to this--that the city has on hand, as of June 30, lo37-$i ,308,0eO.bl plus about two million from tho next installment of taxes totaling S3,30e,oeb in which to pay off S3,666 ,o233b or tho balance of the budget making c deficit of 93O6,037.84 to be made up some way.
 or course another loan of two and oile-hAlf million can be made in December or some of the Special Fund for Permanent Improvements can Do used to mako this up- either way the taxpayer will got the bill iii some future tax levy. 70 what is the difference. It certainly doos look good, just the same to see that the city has so much money that does not actually belong to 1t.
 We hear q lot about "iny family before me paying taxes" but that family never had to figure out . crossword puzzle fin order to find out whether tho city was going proposition or not.
 Yours truly, ( .g@ fte'rt V " WALTER sCANLoN.
 P. s,-Another Taxpayer whose grandfather and great grandfatliGr paid taxes on property on Brandy Hill and Bank street before the turn of tho century, tS&bl