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Show - ::; SEMESiE'GEHCIiLS- BanKer : Walker Declares the Taxes Are Already Too Hip and if Advanced Will Drive Off Outside Investors. 0000g) I MAYOR SAYS CITY SALARIES ARE TOO LOW. The salaries of the city officials are too low. There Is no question about that. They, were cut 'down during the Cleveland souphouse era when retrenchment was a necessity, and have not since been increased. As to whether or not the finances of the city are In a position to Justify the proposed raise I am not In a position to eay at this time. I am now making a careful investigation of this phase of the question, and would , not make'' a positive statement until It Is completed. MAYOR THOMP- . BON TO THE TELEGRAM.- ' An, ordinance to Increase the salaries of certain, city officials is . now under consideration by the Council. .The majority ma-jority of the officials are of the opinion that there should be no discrimination In this regard;" that ,if" salaries are raised in one department all should re- BANKER OPPOSES ANY . .INCREASE IN THE EXPENSES OF CITY . BY M. H. "WALKER, Banker, . ' Any proposed change that will increase the expenses of - the dty and so increase taxa- tionis not advisable. - The city is now carrying a heavy bond- . a ed debt and taxes are high. An increase in the rate of taxation , will -deter outside capital from,. . - . seeking; investment here, and " the bad effects will be far- ' reaching and lasting. Certain- ly oar taxes are too high even S now, and should be reduced rather than added to. An in- crease would hamper the pro- gress of the cicy. Everyman who labors should receive a Just and fair compen- satlon for his work. I do not know what the city officials re- ceive and cannot say whether they deserve more pay or not. . If the salaries are too low they should be increased. FRANK KNOX, PRESIDENT NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC. . S ceive the same treatment Doubt in Minds of Many. ' There Is, too, grave doubt In : the minds of many as to. whether the present pres-ent financier condition of the city and the high-rate of taxation will Justify imposing an additional burden upon the taxpayers. ' It has been suggested that the matter f hould be brought before the Commercial Commer-cial club and the-views of the representative represen-tative business men 'of the city obtained before, a .decision. Js. reached that may add to th expenses now incurred by the city. v . ; ; 'In official circles of course sentiment is strong that an . Increase should be made in the salaries of city officers. Owing to the increased cost of living, it Is argued that-a 'salary which was considered ample two years ago Is no longer sufficient to meet the 'demands of the higher prices. On the other hand it is stated that the citizen is already sufficiently taxed, and the question, can the city stand for the raise, is asked, ... Now Before the Council. . . The problem is now being considered by the City Council but as there are so many matters to be. looked Into, it will necessarily be some time before any action can be taken in regard to it. If a general rise in salaries mean an Increase in the tax levy those hoping for larger checks may hope In vain, but it is asserted that an Increase could be effected without affecting the tax rate. It is argued that the appreciation in the value of property will meet the increasing wants Of. a growing city, without 'any tampering with the tax levy, and an Increase in salaries could be met bv the additional revenue that was available monthly for city running expenses, he enumerated the city's receipts re-ceipts for the year as follows: The Sum -Available. From taxes J21O.C0O From liquor licenses 100,000 From merchants and other licenses, and miscellaneous sources 70.000 Making a total of $180,000 . ' Mr. Morris concluded by saying: "In my opinion an increase in salaries sal-aries could be made without increasing the tax rate above the 8 mills of last year, but I want to say that the salaries of all the city officials should be increased in-creased if any of them are." Favors the Increase. City Auditor Reiser said: . "In my Judgment salaries of city officials could be Increased $10,000 or 112,000 per annum without increasing the tax levy, as the additional revenue from new liquor licenses and from the transfer of civil business to the City court will more than offset such an increase. in-crease. . i "There are inequalities in the salaries of city officers which should be ad-Justed. ad-Justed. Some of them are receiving only $75 per month who are worked harder and earn more than others who receive much higher salaries, and a general increase based upon percentage would not be Just as these inequalities would still exist.- . The Law in the Case. ' Another case of the question which has not been touched upon is the law in regard to the matter. The law forbids for-bids any increase or decrease being made In the salary of an official during his term of office. According to this law all elected officers are barred from any Increase during their Incumbency of office. , This law also settles the question for those appointed to office whose terms have not yet expired which, among the number who have asked for an Increase, includes Assistant City Attorney Schul-der Schul-der and Food Inspector J. J. Meyers. Among those whose terms of office have expired and hold their positions at the Pleasure of the City Council, that are not included in this law and could have their salaries increased are: City Engineer. L. C. Kelsey; Superintendent Superintend-ent of Waterworks. F. L. Hines; Street Supervisor, P. S.. Condie; Sexton, Thomas Carter, and Park Keeper C. A., ; Erickson. ,' But any of these officials may resign re-sign and then be reappointed under the new salary, schedule, . ' 4 f the city .will derive from the new liquor licenses of the drug stores and restaurants, together, with the revenue" that will accrue from the City court since the Jurisdiction of the Justice court has been limited to $10. How Expenses Are Divided. The operating expenses of the city, which Include all departments excepting except-ing the Street, the Waterworks, and the Land and Water Commissioner's departments, are paid from the fund for contingent expenses which is commonly com-monly called the general fund. . Receipts from licenses and miscellaneous miscellane-ous sources contribute about $15,000 to this fund, but as the operating expenses exceed this amount the balance is derived de-rived from a tax levy, which is limited by law to 5 mills on the dollar. . . In 1902 this levy for the. contingent expense fund was 4V& mills, so if the operating expenses should become greater, a further levy of mill could be made. - Paid by Special Levy. The Street department, the Land and Water Commissioner's department and street sprinkling are paid by a tax levy, but it is not from the levy for the general fund, and the expenses of the Waterworks department are paid by revenue derived from water rates. From this it will be observed that of the 8rmiil tax levied last year only 4 mills went toward the operating expenses ex-penses proper, of the city, and that the other 3V4 mills contributed to these other departments, a good share of which was expended for paving Improvements. Im-provements. Treasurer Morris' Views. .,, City Treasurer Morris when asked today to-day if the city's Income were sufficient to stand for an Increase of $1000 per month in salaries said: "If the increased revenue from the licenses of the drug stores and restaurants, restau-rants, which will abount to about $10,400 per year, be taken Into consideration, together with the natural increase in licenses from year to . year, the city could stand such an increase." To the question: "Is there any balance after, expenses are paid, and how much?" he answered: , "The latter part of that question makes it difficult to answer, but the annual an-nual report of the city treasury for last year showed a balance on hand of $50,000. A large portion of this, however, how-ever, was taken from the city and city crematory funds and will have. to be paid back." When -"asked what sum |