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Show GIT! FINANCE RETHENGHMENT PLEfiKIIElO Twenty Per Cent Cut in Current Expense Necessary, Neces-sary, Says Public Affairs Commissioner. CITES FIGURES TO SUSTAIN ARGUMENT Writes Special Article for Tribune Detailing- Plans Needed for Future Economies. Retrenchment, by 20 per cent in tho current expenses of Salt Lako City for tho coming year a ;i means of keeping the municipality In lino wttii the. eronumy that is to win the war wus predicted as pn.bably Inevitable In-evitable several weeks ago by Commissioner Com-missioner Karl A. Scheid, head of tlia department of public affairs and fi-liHtiee. fi-liHtiee. In the Inll.nving article, Commissioner Commis-sioner Sclield Rlvc the facts and figures fig-ures upmi which he based his opinion, lln points out that, while the city's financial .standing Is as good as could he wished in the broad sense, the problem of current expenses has been complicated by elimination 'of sources of revenue, especially the Honor 11-' 11-' cense taxes. As K result, the city faces current, liabilities for ,thc coming com-ing year of 1 1 , US 4.". 1 5 with the prospect' pros-pect' of but Jl.TTo.UDO available revenue rev-enue Dismissing the idea of a. raise In the tax levy as not to be considered con-sidered except as an mineral vc. measure the liniinco commissioner Indicates In-dicates a. retrenchment of 2u per cent as the one other means of bringing together 'he city's current liabilities and assets. In his article he indicates some ol the uncstions that, will come up at the budget meeting a. te.w weeks hence with reward tu the practice of economy. By City Commissioner Karl A. Scheid. Designed lev the informalion of the fact-seeking citizen, a statement 01 t tie cltv's financial problem, dealing with lads and figures relating to current activities ac-tivities onlv. Is briefly as follows: Since the adoption of the commission form of government -that Is to say, tor the past si years this city has had an aveiage vearlv revenue income, ol Jl.i..lj.-7;5 Jl.i..lj.-7;5 47 This 'has been expended at the average rale of J I .t.Tl.lKS.iO annually for nmlnteiKince and operating expenses, and JsiGo r.45.07 annually lor public improvements. improve-ments. These revenues were derived from taxes and license fees. 1 he latter Including In-cluding about 523ti.OOO annually from lienor licenses and $33,000 annually from merchants' licenses. Improvements Excluded. Extensive public improvements eonl-plcted eonl-plcted during the period above indicated, which were paid for with funds derived from Issuance of bonds, are not included in these figures. As'stated. we are dealing deal-ing solely' with the problem of current revenues necessary for current needs; for whatever Is done or left undone in the wnv of further public Improvements during" dur-ing" the period of the war. national interest inter-est is of paramount importance, and salt Uike as a community, as well as her citizens Individually, is prepared to Hoov-trlze Hoov-trlze for the great cause. It must be borne in mind that the full effect or the loss of a full year s revenue rev-enue fiom liquor and merchants' licenses, HK"reRiillns some S'JSo.OOO. will be felt for" the first time during the coining year. This material loss of revenue on one hand, and on the other new and extraordinary extraor-dinary items of expense listed below, combine com-bine to form a difficult situation which will of necessity require the year 191b to be distinctly one of economy and retrenchment. re-trenchment. , , . Hut this is easier said than done. for. after all. the citv government has not been wasteful of its funds in times past, and now. in addition to demands of ordinary ordi-nary vears which themselves have become be-come inflated bv reason of increased cost of labor and materials there have now developed new and extraordinary demands upon the city's pocket book -which are unescapable. Here is a list of the more prominent new expense Items which will be peculiar 10 the vear U'lS; that is to say. expenses which 'budget calculations of previous years have not had to contend with: Appropriation from current ( funds necessary to complete mulct sewer and pumping plant 5 40,000.00 Appropriation from current funds necessarv to complete "water bond'' projects 20.000.00 Appropriation from current funds necessary to repay loan from waterworks fund, used to pav for laying- Seventeenth Kast street water main 2S.200.OO Board of education's snare of expense of assessing and collecting col-lecting taxes for l'.'lo, '16. '17 2.7. 000.00 Same for 191S 10.000.00 Settlement of claims under wni kmH n's cotnppnsai io:i law fur 1 N 1 7 ipstlniittfj) 7, 500. 00 Same for IMS ftsiim;il.M 1 0,001'. "0 I'rovisiim l'nr settlement, of hiw i-1 j i r k ponding in sviprrinn cnnrl. wliidi li.fve been le-ciil.Ml le-ciil.Ml ' iitlvcr.s(;ly hi lower roiirM S'.OOO.UO l-:,sLiiiiHlt:fl fKnt-nsf of pKtrollliifr u ;i I pi' works s vstem 1'"'- l.'KS (war rncai-urcj IS.filfi.OO Tol it 1 $ISl,aiu.Cj0 Estimated Revenue. Uur ostium ted revenue for lOISala Ihx rate ol' mills, as In J.917, is $l,T7.1,00; our PHti inaLt'tl cost, of opr.-i t ion an.J main-, ifn;ince for i:us is Sl.sOO.noi'. and to ! this must bo added p.t ranrcli nary px- j ln'iinM, as above, amounting to $IS4,:iK, which must bf; met out of tho current ; rends. Tlil.s is I c. probU'iii in m. nut-.shell nut-.shell how b hut1-:p J 1 .77.".. mm nf current iis.f.tH Pity fur $l,.l,;;io oL' mirrcnt liabilities. liabili-ties. It in only reasonable to expeci that a reiluced prorininip. of public lniproe-ments lniproe-ments will result in a corjesprniuinEr re-, re-, d uc t lor i in t Ik staff of employees in-: in-: speclor.s, computers, especially in the. engineer's department, and to a greater or less extent, at least, in other departments depart-ments as well but this Mill not 0 far toward making- up the deficit, unless, indeed, in-deed, a. drastic order for a. lf0 per cent reduction in the number of employees is ordered in all departments. Revenue Needed. New sources of revenue in the way of license fees arc possible and must be made available. Of these a tax on motor vehicles, pleasure machines as well as commercial trucks, seems reasonable and just. At an a.veraee of $." per car such a tax would yield in tho neighborhood or ?..(, 0v'i. It is abutting property owners who pay for street paving, and it is the owner of the automobile who enjoys the chief benefit an anomalous situation that should .be remedied if the statutes will 1 permit. A tax on vault and storage spaces tin- i dcr sidewalks, incumbrances on sidewalks side-walks and all other special advantages Hreruinp: to individuals and cornbra f inn from the use of public property should brinp a return 16 the public treasury. From the above it becomes evident that there will have to be curtailment all down the line and even abandonment of less essential activities either that or an increase of the tax rate. Tax Rate Determined. Nominally, the city's tax rate Is fixed by the board of commissioners in July, but actually it is determined by the appropriations ap-propriations allowed in the budget session ses-sion in January. Therefore it behooves all public spirited citizens to interest themselves in the meetings of the budget committee; to voice their protests and submit their recommendations with reference ref-erence to the various questions that will there be decided, of which the following are a few of the more prominent ones: Shall the smoke abatement bureati continue its apparently abortive efforts to secure appreciable results, or shall it be abandoned? Should the policy of mandatory metering meter-ing of water services thereby conserving the water supply, but at a considerable expense for meters and possible loss of revenue be discontinued for the time being? be-ing? Can Refund Issue. Should the bond sinking fund of $180,-000 $180,-000 or any part thereof be used to amortize amor-tize bonds aggregating 00,000 which mature ma-ture December 1, 1918, or should the entire en-tire issue be refunded? v There is a cemetery fund of 56S.000, the interest from which is designed for perpetual care of graves. As a matter of fact, such care is provided for out of general funds. Should this sum be diverted divert-ed in this year of stress for current needs, or, possibly, for some urgently ' needed public improvement? I Should the city resume its former prac- ' tice of paying delinquent special improvement im-provement taxes out of general funds and hold the lien against the property; or, by refusing payment of delinquent warrants court possibility of a law suit which may actually dispossess owners of their property? Shall the tax rate be held to the present pres-ent figure regardless of any other consideration, con-sideration, and a policy of cutting the garment to lit the cloth be insisted upon? |
