| Show CITY INDEBTEDNESS A STUDY IN FRENZIED FINANCE JI BY ARMSTRONG G. I Will some tome kind obliging gentleman with a n precocity for Cor figures step U u ur I and tell the city administration atlon when it can get gel the tho mone money to run the tho until the tho fall Call taxes are oaid Dald Mone Money is as 5 in the scarce uce city treasury treat treas ur ury as ns skull grass on oh Councilman head It is oven even scarcer for there Is a fringe of trimming about aboul the head hend of tho aforesaid councilman and inside the buzzing of or the mayoralty mayor mayor- nil ally alty bee keeps the roots alive There I isn't even en a fringe in the city treasur treas treas- U ur ury It Jt doesn't require more than a casual observer to see ee that thai the manner mannor man man- nor ner in which Salt Sail Lakes Lake's finances have havo been handled for fOI a a. year ear and anti a half I Is the Iho est bIggest jol joke o that over ever struck Snit Salt Lake If there are any an anable able men In charge c of oC th the cond conduct of or the cI city's hs affairs affairs af af- af- af fairs foils they have given their time to something something- else until the city's financial finan cial condition has approached bankruptcy bankruptcy bank bank- until a n shattered credit Is staring the administration In tho face Contractors are willing to lo take lake a healthy health discount on scrip an and upon ants ari issued in lieu of scrip and while the tho apologists for the administration administration adminis adminis- are arc laying the blame for the tan tangle le on the public Improvement laws Jass enacted by the last 1 legislature the fundamental reason for fOl tho the distressing distressing- condition Is the tho manner In which the tho present rc regime ime has conducted conducted con con- ducted the affairs of oC the Iho cH city cily In the first place the they wont after the public Improvements like drunken sailors on a lark They created new sidewalk districts pave paved streets laid new sewers Eewel'S extended an another and other otherwise wise went Into Inlo rehabilitation re- re habilitation on an extravagant ant scale They planned like a 0 man buying an automobile on a wheelbarrow salary Iary If you are arc going oln to lo have ha a city cily said aid some ome friend of tho the administration lion ion you will have to pay pay for fOI iL it But Dut who shio expected to turn Salt Lake Lako upside do don doun n and inside out on such a magnificent scale scale with such small means Cold figures ures remind t the e hitherto taxpayer that there has been barely enough h mone money In the city cily treasury to run the cit city an and make malc improvements at a moderate rate rale No 10 business s man or set sel of business men would plan lo to spend millions where only thousands or 01 paltry hundreds were In sight The Thc pre present nt administration administration adminis- adminis came caine into office ce crying at al the debts left lert by 13 the Morris tion With the next breath the regime voted voled to lo pa pay more moie on an al already already al al- read ready bun bungled l d conduit which has cost upwards of a million This is tive Favored contractors were given ven work more work more work worle than they could do The contracts became entangled the city cily sank deeper and ond deeper Into the Iho I slough h of misguided business judgment judg judg- ment merit until now there Is no way out Deeper and anti deeper the entanglement has grown and the city cily has become in involve involved in- in volve dIstressIngly J close lo to bankruptcy bank bank- because of tIme the reckless mismanagement mis mis- mana management There is another side of this public I I im provement proposition In the rush of letting contracts the 1 property owners owner's Interests have t been entirely forgotten Streets were torn up months mouths before could uld bo he conyear con con- conj conj- r t j r r ru to t year eur and ha not l' l t biti touched sidewalk extensions were created create In places where the assessment would be greater grealer than the worth of the tho property property prop prop- erty ert mid and where sidewalks would do dolittle dolittle little or no good for years to come Tho The city let contracts and collected the money for the work from the tax tax- payer No thought was given gl to the eily's city's share of the expense No attempt attempt attempt at at- tempt was made to pay it nor to preparE prepare pre pro pare for its Us payment Long before the city began besan to lo pay for its intersections the property properly owner had paid his money had walled waited months lor lur tile tue work and had lost the use of his his his' cash The city finance jugglers tell the common people that so o long long- longas as there thero Is money In the bank the bank banle will carry the thc warrants that thai ar are drawn on one fund or the other So if a certain fund 1 Is overdrawn it is really not Hot overdrawn because the bank has mone money In another fund and holds that thai to lo protect itself against ag overdrafts o In other words if it that thai thatIs Is accepted as 10 logic le the city elty cannot exceed its bonded bonde indebtedness for in inthe inthe the bond fun funds s created create in 1905 for tor the Big ill Cottonwood conduit and the sewer extensions there Is something over which the thc bank c can n always tel set against other funds That is a sample of the argument put up RI Right ht now tho thu contingent fund is overdrawn drawn to the extent of or 01 j more Just how much will be shown l I when the city treasurer strikes his hisS balances balanc at al the end of this month is S not nol known At Al the end of April the contingent fund boasted which is practically nothing considering consider consider- In lug ing the drain that lint must bo be made upon it constantly There are aie now outstanding outstanding out out- standing warrants a against this lila fund which will cat up UI twice that thai figure You see sec the cH city will have practically call catty cally no revenue until the thc fall taxes are arc paid laid Of or course coulse there are arc fines fees etc elc that thai will come steadily but bul they constitute one drop in iii a big bucket and no more The machinery of the city cily government is expensive c with Its re red tape its arm army of ot em cm- and Its Us extravagant tastes The city cily council ma may do all itil II sorts of things It II may transfer monc money front from frontone one fund to another until It is blue In Inthe Inthe Inthe the face fale II ma may maj borrow here to lo la pay jay there and und may juggle until the thc cows come home horne there will always s 's be bc that nightmare of a deficit eft growing la larger pr and Jan larger er expending and spreading through h N e every channel of the city gov gov- eminent It will grow more terrifying with ago age and through the hot months of or the summer Hummer there will bo ho nothing left to lo juggle Scrip will be 10 at al beggars beggars beggar's beg beg- gars gar's rales rates warrants on special improvements im irn- pro will be he transferred at al largo large discounts and the lie city administration will be pe e up against a clash with the law which says nut But that will vIll be in the hot hoi months Right Hight now the cit city council is robbing the street fund to pa pay Moran and Birch and Kennedy Kenned and tho ho Utah company for Its own share sharo of public improvements There Is a general calculation which comes close to lo be he accurate that the city pays pars one-fifth one tho the expense of or all nil public Improvements That Thai is the city pays for the tue Intersections and half haIr the grading Th fh city will have to pay Pat lat Moran approximately for fOl over left-over work and work that is now being done b by that contractor Birch will come in for fOl OOOO on sidewalk work Hanley Ritchie will be paid about of the thc city's mone money and the Utah Fireproofing company will get g-et about Then Themi the city cily vill will have to lo pay half halt the cost of paving paving- State and Fourth South streets about the city and county building g. That will Ill mean more In addition to this there is an enormous expense piling up UI this summer summer upon work worl that thatIs is supposed to lo be completed complete during the year The Thc items enumerated mal make c a total total to- to tal lal of an and the Iho city is given the best of it in these figures Wo Vo are reminded h by the trial balance balance bal bal- ance of the city drawn n le less hess s than a month ago ngo which shows 9 O In Inthe Inthe inthe the street fund that thai there will be somewhat of or an ordeal to get over out of that thai fund If the city cily pays its own share of oC expense out of that fund there would be he an overdraft overdraft over over- draft against the tho fund of or several thousands thousands ands of dollars And there thero wouldn't be bo any street fund There is b a n gen gen- en I t d 1 t r iii ut tar be e borne b by the set aside by ta tax lev levy evy for that purpose If Ie the the thc city takes monc money from that f fund to lo pay somewhere else who will vill suffer Maybe laYbe Jake Raleigh h will vill come como before be be- fore ore the council every week and ask askor for or appropriations of or one two Iwo an and three thousand dollars to work on the Iho streets Maybe lahe he ho wont An Anyhow how It is all very funny right funny right now Ma May be lie the element clement of or humor will be lost during the summer for ItIs It il ilis itis is likely ely that before the tho city election In the fall Call the tho present re regime will have ha to answer for a lot of oC things s. s The tolerant taxpayer may cease to see the joke |
