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Show fifSE ! EMPHASIZED Municipal Publication Gives Resume in Concise Form of the Past Year's Achievements. ! LOOKS WELL FOR' CITY COMMISSION Absence of Frills Is Noted in the Report, Which Covers Cov-ers the Field in Its Entirety. U-KDBB the title, "The Year's Achievement," tho Decern bor issuo of tho Municipal Rocord, which comes from tho press within tho next few days, will con-taiu, con-taiu, in concise form, n striking ro-snmo ro-snmo of the first j'car's record of tho commission form of government in Salt Lake. Just what has beeu accomplished, ac-complished, what plans havo been put into oxecution, what policies and methods of . administration nave been introduced, and thu first results thereof, there-of, are given in tho manner that any citizen can compreheud. Tho Dccombor Record is given oyer almost entirely to this resume, which consists of a 'summary of all tho annual an-nual reports of citv officers and tho various departments of government, and tho deductions to be drawn thero-from. thero-from. Summary of Record1. The summary is as follows: With this issuo there 1r completed l!he written record of the llrst year of the commission form of government In Salt Tako City. It Is or tlic taxpayers ithcmsclves to Judsre whether or not tho prcsont form of fjovornmont has 'oecn a success or a failure However, from the annual reports re-ports contained In this Issuo tber may bo deduced tho following data: 1. IDurinp: the past year all appointments appoint-ments htvVo boen made without reference lo tho politics or religion of the applicant; appli-cant; qualification has been the sole guide for selection. 2. No employee of any department" Is allowed to make any contribution to any campaign fund. 3. Tho pollco department baa "boon reorganized re-organized on a basis of honesty, Harmony Har-mony ami efficiency, with all discordant elements eliminated. Patrolmen have been graded Into three classes with, efficiency ef-ficiency the guld for promotion from a lower to a. higher gTade, RewarHs Prohibited. 4. Members of tho pollco department are .prohibited by regulation from receiving: receiv-ing: commissions or rewards without tho consent of tho board of city commissioners. commis-sioners. 5. Traffic policemen havo been stationed sta-tioned at tho principal Htroot Intersec-tlonc Intersec-tlonc of tho city ior tho bettor regulation of street traffic and- pedestrians using the crossings. C. Tho efficiency of the fire department depart-ment has been increased to such an ex-tont ex-tont that it Is pronounced by the board of underwriters to be ono of the best in the United States. 7. Firemen aro now appointed into different grades and promoted from a lower to a higher grade on a basis of efficiency and ability. 3. Tho water department has replaced old iplpos. rolnld maln3. and has demonstrated demon-strated that It can do tho necessary work of excavating for and installing watcrmalnB at a price 25 per cent Joss than was secured by letting tho work to public contractors. During the year there was a total .of 40, MS feet of plpo mains of 6, 10 and 33-inch 33-inch sizes laid. Seven per cent of tho 2C per cent saved was duo to lower freight rates, 2 per cent was due to lower low-er cost of pipe, and 16 per cent was duo directly to tho saving done by the department. de-partment. The per cent of aVlng tliii shown on the total number of feot of plpo completed amounts to 714,?.G4,S3. Citizens Given Work. In addition to the saving howrtv American citizens of Salt T-ake City have been given tho work and. thereby a chance to ma.ke a living at living wages. Fonnurly foreign labor was used by contractors con-tractors almost entirely. During the year the department adopted adopt-ed concrete hydrant and valve boxes In place of tho formor brlclr, cemont-llned ooxes. effecting a saving of 28 por cent, or S5 10.00. In the coat of sixty-two -boxes. or $10.50 on thirty hydrant boxes, and ?6.30 each on thirty-two valves boxes. 0. All employees of the waterworks department aro now placed In one of several sev-eral divisions with graded salaries and. promotion from one grado to anotnor on a boslB of merit. 10. During 1012 public Improvement contracts aggregating $466,000 Were let and tho work will be Installed under the supervision of the department of streets and public Improvements. Many Blocks Improved. Eighty-five lilocks were graded and graveled, fiSlJ.4 square yards of crosswalks cross-walks wero laid at a saving of J4701.2C over thu average Dor squaro yard prJco of tho previous year. Kccolpts from poll tax show an Increase In-crease of ?7704. or alxmt i0 per cent: permits for street excavations produced an incrvAscd revonue of $3012.04, more than 100 por cent. 11. Tho policy of tho olty commission to encourage bids from all points to compete for publlo contracts has rosultod In largo savings in tho matter of paving pav-ing alone; tho total approaches nearly X150.000. The average price for stroot paving dropped from $li.D5 In 1911 to $1.78, This saving means a very conHlderablo amount to the abutting property own-or own-or who Is compelled to pay special taxes for tho work. 12. City parks have been beautified during tlio past year more than In any other flfo years In tho city's hlatory, 13. Magnificently oqulpped playgrounds play-grounds have been Installed in a number num-ber of tho schools and public parks and overy possible means has been used to encourage tho general public In the use of these Imprpvcnients. Park Is Purchased. ' . During the year Riverside park was purchased for the benefit of the residents resi-dents of tho northwestern portion of the city nt a coat of JSI00. und plana for Its improvement mean an nxpondlluro of $12,000 during the year 191II. II. Tho city health department Is now operating under a reorganization ordinance by which tho dupnrtinuiit iH divided Into seven genoral divisions, each of which has a chief and all of whom aro directly responsible to the health commissioner, who In turn reports to tnt board of health, a body of five physicians an-polntod an-polntod by the board of citv commlsslon- 1 ers. Th Inspectors who aro appointed to th" several divisions aro sraded so that promotion from low'cr to the higher grado ia mudo In recognition of merit and efficiency. The lnapoctora are also appointed with no special divisional designation, the Idea blng that they may bo changed from one department to another an-other as occasion may require andthere-by andthere-by become familiar with tho workings of each of the various sections. in. During il.e yar apodal audits of the city's bol:s v."iv made, bringing all accounts to jute and disposing of ninny worthless aocounta accumulated durtng the past years. 16. At tho beginning or the year the city's money was deposited In the bank under an agreement that 2 per cent Interest In-terest was to bo paid upon average de-poslls de-poslls and 1 per cent on overdrafts. 17. This hus resulted In thu citv receiving re-ceiving a total of 51814.70 in Interest during dur-ing 1912. and iu paying out $1729.52 Tor overdrafts. On tho latter Item there is also a saving of $SM.7G duo to the diffor-ence diffor-ence between I per cent now paid nnd tho j por cent formerly paid, making a totat gain to tho city of .52C70.D3 for the year. Office Is Created. la. Tho creation of tho office of purchasing pur-chasing agent, bus resulted In a direct traceable saving f more than 33.000 during dur-ing 1012. This department handled approximately ap-proximately In purchases and during the year received more llian 6000 in voices from 171 different firms: all of those were checked In triplicate, distributed to tho various department; hi tho city government govern-ment and tho bills paid. At n0 time during tho year haa there been a slnglo complaint or a einglo difference between the city purchasing agent and the firms from whom ho purchased goods. In tho matter of municipal advertising alono, the saying aggregated 02 per cent under tho price. ,pald In former years. 19. Tho creation of tho office of city statistician, whoso duly it is to koep comparative tables ojt every nature for the benefit of tho' commissioners or tho public, is an innovation which has proved successful In many other cities, and bids ialr to bo an Important adjunct of the local government. Above Suspicion. 20. There has never boon a charge or a suspicion of graft or selfish Interest made against any member of tho board or city commissioners, because the system sys-tem adopted precludes opportunity for even an appearance of parllalltv. I1", T.no commission law requires tho publication monthly of a summary of tho proceedings of the board of commissioners, commission-ers, together with a, report of the auditor, showing departmental receipts and expenditures. ex-penditures. 2Z. This report in Sail. T5iko Citv has taken tho form of the present publication. publica-tion. Its purpose is not onlv to conform to the rnqulromentii of tho law but to on-ablo on-ablo the public generally, and taxpavora particularly, to ascertain exact! v what business is being done without awaiting an annual report as formerly. Possibly nothing exemplifies the accomplishments accom-plishments of tho board of commissioners commission-ers and the several departments of the city's government as much as a comparative compara-tive table of tho receipts and expenditures expendi-tures of tho city. Tho tabulated list shows tho total warrants Issued, the total to-tal net transfers for Improvements, etc., and the grand toUIn of each for each year since January 1. 1004, together with tho percentages of Increase and decrease in total expepdltures and total wai-rants. In 190 tho total expenditures aggro-gated aggro-gated 5634.15V.il, of which W79.676.79 comprised warrants Issued nnd $4481.62 tljjnot transfers for Improvements, otc. Id 1905 tho general expense Increased 23 per cent, while tho amount for warrants issued increased 19.3 per cent. Record for Six Years. In the succeeding years the percentages per-centages of increase were as follows: 190i, total expense Increase 12.R per cent, warrants incrcaso 10.5 por .cent; 1907, total expense Increase 21.5 per cent, warrants Increase 10.1 por cent; 100S, total expense increase 9.6 per cent, warrants increase 11.8 per cont; 1909, total to-tal Inoreaso 4.2 per cent, warrants In-ceaso In-ceaso Ji per cent; 1910, total Increase 3 per cent, warrants Increase 9.1 per curt, 1911. total decrease 1.4 per cent, warrants war-rants Incrcaso S.4 per cent. In the soven years from 1904 the av-orago av-orago increase In total expenditures lias been 11 per cont and the average increase in-crease in warrants Issued has been 10 por cont. Comparing 1912 with 1911 the increase of total expenditures has been 3.3 por cent, or 7.7 per cent less than tho average. av-erage. Comparing the warrants issued tho llgures of 1912 show an Inoreaso ovor last year of 5.2 per cent, or G.8 per cont less than tho average. Tho decrease In 1911 total expenditures expendi-tures as compared to 1910 Is due to the decreased amount spent for improvements improve-ments In 1911. In 191U the improvements amounted to $202,137.88, while in .1911 the total was but $7&,690,62. It should be noted also that in tho same comparative period tho warranto Issued, representing the general operating cxponses of tho city, increased S.4 per cent. Itemising the comparison between 1911 and 1913 In tho matter of warrants is"-sued, is"-sued, in which, as noted abovo, thero was an Increase of 5.2 per cent, other data Is obtainable |
