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Show ' Senate Passes Housing Bill as Adjournment Looms BREAK LOOMS IN COMMISSION Of J S. L BUDGET Tentative Draft Is Revised With Lower Total By AL FERGUSON With mandatory adoption of the 1938 Salt Lake City budget ten days away, an open break between commissioner! loomed Tuesday over terms of the tentative ten-tative budget which will be aired at a public hearing Wednesday. Wed-nesday. The hearing will he held at leiSO a. m. at room Ml, city and county building;. Preliminary discussion Tuesday indicated Commissioner George D. Keyser will demand the commission commis-sion go on record favoring a 1-mill 1-mill cut in the 138 tax levy aver the 1937 levy of 15 mills. This year's levy is the highest in history or the local city commission form of government Commissioner John B. Mstheson, head of the street department, indicated in-dicated he will request a larger appropriation for the street department depart-ment He pointed out the budget has been framed with too much emphasis on an anticipated $90,000 which will accrue from the state gasoline tax for use on class C streets next March. Meanwhile it was disclosed by Finance Commissioner William Murdoch that the proposed budget originally submitted on December 8. totaling 13.291,283. has been revised re-vised to the extent that it now totals to-tals S3.241.283. An estimated revenue reve-nue item of $300,000 from payment of prior years' taxes was reduced $50,000 in process of the revision. The cash reserve for surplus and contingency was also cut front $74,-892 $74,-892 89 to $83,292.69. The $11,800 cut from the reserve for surplus and contingency was added to the public safety budget during revision of the tentative setup. The increase for public safety, safe-ty, it was explained, was made primarily pri-marily to aid the denartment in financing its transportation facilities. facili-ties. Fixed charges. Including surplus, bond retirement and interest funds, set at $1,114,015.31. in the tentative budget as originally submitted has been reduced to $1,108,808. The reduction re-duction was made largely through elimination of a $50,000 item originally orig-inally considered as an obligation In connection with guarantee of special Improvement bonds. The special improvement fund In reality operates as a revolving fund, it was explained, with the outlay returning in the form of special spe-cial improvement taxes. Thus, the guarantee fund could be reduced without, seriously hurting the budget Commissioner Murdoch said. The finance commissioner sdded: "The proposed budget is balanced, bal-anced, and as nearly in a true manner man-ner as is possible at this time. I sm firmly convinced that 1938 can be supported by a half-mill reduction re-duction in levy if revenues accrue as well In next year as they hsve this year. "The net budget, exclusive of cash reserves, is $3,178,283. If we find it possible to slash ths levy A mill next August when the time arrives for settling that levy, the net budget for 1938 will be reduced to $3,113,283. That figure Is about $37,000 under the figure now set by the taxpayers' budget as that organization's or-ganization's estimate of what the new budget should be." ' Dr. M. H. Harris of the Utah Taxpayers' association indicated that organization is firmly behind the movement to reduce the 1938 tax levy. He deplored ths plan to increase ths budget in face of current cur-rent "uncertain conditions." |