The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-29

AegkBAttHe that tno hsto SUmAVUS
 GeOrgN T. CuIhane incorporated
 aY,tN hla charter revision bill pro-
 eislOn that collection of no more
 shan @ per cent of the total tax
 lovy could be estimated in prep
 aFatlOn of the next years budget.
 The pEesent administration found
 slhat thls worked cut so well that -., h allowed it t0 remain when it
 was having the legislature amend
 the charter again this year.
 Senator Culhane's amendment was Rimed at preventing any city ad- ministratlon from keeping the tax Fate down, for political reasons, by estimating tax collections at Q higher figure than justified. It set up R safeguard against Q purely DO. htical tax rate.
 isf However, like any other safeguard, ist can be gotten around. It was, to q good degree, when the l040 budget ems being set up late in 1889, The tljDoard of finance of that time felt, and no doubt rightly, that the city's taxpayers needed to have their con- &idence in the city government re" stored. The best method of doing &his, the boards members reasoned, was Q sharp reduction in the tax rnte, So the tax rate was cut two and Q half mills, from 3b to 32.5 mIlls, and the mayor at the time, Patrick M. PeFrlello, wanted 1t re- anced even more.
 N
 The natural question k how the
 board could do that In view of the Culhane amendment. And the
 answer Is that It was done largely
 by OverestImAtDng by far the clty's
 revenues from sources other than
 general taxation. The tax receipts y estimate had t0 be kept down to @,02 per cent Of the total possible v Recollection, but there was nothing ' tO prevent estimates that other inc +cOms sources would bring 1n for @ more than they possibly could. q Hcre fate t0Ok Q hand and the
 defense boom began tO carry Wa' n Serbnry along with it ln 1O40. Tax
 collections ran several hundred
 thOusaRd dollars ahead Of the mandatory O2 per cent maximum p estimate; ln fact the city ended Sithe year with Q record collection
 of O6.24 per cent. The extra collec- z tlonB mere than made up for Che 2 exaggerated estimates of income sssrOm other sources.
 ThS present administration, which went through It's first year under Ehe budget prepared by tho 1889 board of finance, and recognized the Hangers Of over-estimateS when it Was preparing the budget for le4l. Estimates were made much more conservative in regard to Income From sources other than the general Aax. But times this year have been Aven better than last; tax collections are already over eT per cent of the AeVy, giving the city Q i've per cent aeeway, with still Q month of the sHear to 70. The Culhane an1end- lment's effect this year will be on lhXcess of close to S300,000 over the ihudget estimate Of tax collections. Al suhteFfuges like that of late ! ib30 should hereafter be unneces.
 sary as the clty's financial poSls
 lion grows more stable and .
 normally efficient city adminlstFa. Hon can count on . very comfort able financial cushion each year. A collection record of 9s per cent, :Or instance, means that an extra II SlO0,OOO or So Is available ct the 6'end Of each year. Continuance of
 Ahe war boom means that much
 AFgcF sums can be chalked up aS
 prOfit each December Si.
 @ -
 @Clty employees. contemplating this gears surplus, which should 90 far 1. over 9400O00, look glumly at the { 1p42 budget recommended by the board of finance, which makes no 5 provision for general pay increase. 1. They see their hopes dashed for an. other year, though sfe more opti- i. snlstic hope that the emergency" \ fund set up in the budget may be used to pay them bonus of some sort during 1922.
 What has many city employees fred 2 ls. that some of their landlords, who : Reclaimed the Waterbury Taxpayers Assoclation's veto of pay increases : Tor them, have biithely proceeded to 2 raise rents.
 2 This brings up a point Of con. structive criticism about the Wa. ( terbury Fair Rent Committee. Organized with much hOop-h
 months ago the committee has ]. gradually receded into the back ground. The excuse that word < from Washington as to procedure 7 was awaited has worn a little thin by now. The committee should at < least meet, formulate q definite {, policy and enforce 1t. It can't en- force lt by law, but it can by pub- { tlc opinion, as some communities { are now doing.
 This is not intended to be any
 criticism of Frank ]. Green, sec $ reGaFy of the committee, who has
 worked long and hard on rent prObIems. The trouble is that he g has had to work almost alone, even while voluntarily carrying on { many other extra duties. Through J Htls personal efforts he has ef- X fected many rent adjustments, but z aihe committee itself Is stiIl without
 a policy oE . program.