Report of the city of Somerville 1899, Part 1

Author: Somerville (Mass.)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Somerville, Mass.
Number of Pages: 430


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1899 > Part 1


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STREN &TF


& CTTY 1872.


VILLE


GIVE


7848


FOUR


.


.


CITY OF SOMERVILLE


MASSACHUSETTS


ANNUAL REPORTS


1899


With Mayor's Inaugural Address Delivered Jan. 1, 1900


GIVE


SOMERVILLE


FREEL


FOUNDED 1842.


ONAI


MUNICIPAL


LI


A CITY 1872. STRENGT


SOMERVILLE JOURNAL PRINT


1900


INAUGURAL ADDRESS


Delivered by


HON. GEORGE O. PROCTOR, MAYOR,


January 1, 1900.


GENTLEMEN. OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN : -


Another year has passed into history, and we are assembled here again to organize for the commencement of the duties that have been entrusted to our care. We are to begin these duties under an entirely new method. The change will require a good deal of thought and consideration, and its success will depend largely upon a wise and careful understanding of its provisions and requirements. Upon you will be the responsibility of laying out the work to be performed, and the executive department will have the responsibility of seeing that the work which you origi- nate is faithfully completed You have all had valuable business experience, and the larger part of your number has had experi- ence in municipal affairs that will be of great value to you. You will find efficient and faithful officials at City Hall, who will give you any information relating to the work of the departments that you may require, and who will be ready at all times to render every assistance required in your duties. I have prepared a sum- mary report of the work performed during the year, with brief statements of the conditions of the most important departments at the present time, which I will now submit to your considera- tion, the first and most important of which is that relating to the financial condition of the city :---


The City's Finances.


FUNDED DEBT .- The funded debt of the city January 1, 1899, was as follows : -


Funded Debt, City Loan


$1,044,000 00


Funded Debt, Sewer Loan


166,000 00


Funded Debt, Paving Loan


70,000 00


Funded Debt, Water Loan


272,000 00


Total Funded Debt


$1,552,000 00


4


ANNUAL REPORTS.


The debt was increased during the year by appropriations made by the City Council as follows :-


Schoolhouse, Forster, improvement $35,000 00


Schoolhouse, Highland, sanitary improvement .


5,000 00


Public Library, addition 1.


15,000 00


Public Grounds. Lincoln Park


10,000 00


Powder House Boulevard .:


10,000 00


Fire Department, Fire Station, Clarendon Hill,


4,000 00


Fire Department, Fire Station No. 1


1,000 00


Highways, Paving Washington street, Tufts street to Boston line, northerly side


10,000 CO


Highways, Paving Davis square


5,000 00


Renewals of Funded Debt


15,000 00


Amount borrowed during the year $110,000 00


The debt was reduced during the year by payments as fol- lows :-


Funded Debt, City Loan


$124,000 00


Funded Debt, Sewer Loan 8,000 00


Funded Debt, Paving Loan 5,000 00


Funded Debt, Water Loan


32,500 00


Amount paid during the year


$169,500 00


Leaving the funded debt of the city January 1, 1900, $1,492,- 500 (a reduction of $59,500 from the previous year), classified as follows :---


City Loan Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent.


$917,000 00


City Loan Bonds bearing interest at 42 per cent.


113,000 00


City Loan Sewer Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent.


146,000 00


City Loan Sewer Bonds bearing interest at 42 per cent. . .


12,000 00


City Loan Paving Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent. .


65,000 00


Water Loan Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent.


217,000 00


Water Loan Bonds bearing interest at 5 per cent.


12,500 00


Water Loan Bonds bearing interest at 5} per cent.


10,000 00


Total Funded Debt January 1, 1900


$1,492,500 00


.


The foregoing amount represents the net indebtedness of the city, the unfunded liabilities for temporary loans, etc., being equaled by its assets, which consist of uncollected taxes, sewer and sidewalks assessments, etc.


TAXES. - The assessors' warrant for the tax levy assessed upon the polls and estates of the inhabitants, as of May 1, 1899, was duly submitted to the collector.


The total amount of taxable property was $51,262,400, and the rate established was $16.30 on each $1,000 valuation, as fol- lows :-


5


MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


Real Estate, valuation $46,507,300 00 Personal Estate, valuation 4,755,100 00


Total valuation


$51,262,400 00


1


At a rate of $16.30 on each $1,000 vauation $835,577 12


Polls, 16.505 at $2.00 . 33,010 00


Street Watering 13,993 84


Total amount of tax levy


$882,580 96


APPROPRIATIONS. - The amount of revenue provided by the tax levy may properly be classified as follows :-


Rate as- sessed on $1,000 valu- ation. Amount.


For Current expenses within the con- trol of the city council $6.415


$328,800 00


Current expenses of departments


over which the city council has no control


5.207


267,000 00


Debt requirements


2.809


144,000 00


State and county taxes, Metropoli- tan sewer assessments, and


overlay account .


1.869


95.777 12


For total amount on a valuation of $51,262,400 at $16.30 . . ·


$835,577 12


Poll taxes assessed credited to State and County


33,010 00


Street watering in excess of amount ap-


13.993 84


Total amount of tax levy


$832,580 96


The appropriations to the various accounts were as follows :-


ACCOUNTS WITHIN THE CONTROL OF THE CITY COUNCIL.


Electrical Department


$6.800 00


Engineering Department


10.000 00


Fire Department


58,000 00


High ways


40,000 00


Indigent Soldiers and Sailors


500 00


Miscellaneous


12,000 00


Police


51 000 00


Police Station Incidentals


2 000 00


Printing and Stationery


7,000 00


Public Grounds


9,000 00


Relief and Burial of Sailors


Indigent Soldiers and


12.000 00


Salaries


8 000 00


School Contingent, Janitors' Salaries


19,000 00


School Fuel .


12,000 00


Schoolhouse Incidentals


18,000 00


Sidewalks


10,000 00


Street Lights


50,000 00


Watering Streets


3,500 00


Total amount assessed on a valuation of $51,262,400 at $6.415


$328,800 (0


propriated


6


ANNUAL REPORTS.


ACCOUNTS OVER WHICH THE CITY COUNCIL HAS NO CONTROL.


Rate per $1,000 valuation.


Amount.


Health Department


$0.468


$24,000 00


Public Library .


0.175


9,000 00


School Contingent


21,000 00


School Teachers' Salaries


4.135


191,000 00


Support of Puor


0.429


22,000 00


Total amount assessed on a valua- tion of $51,262,400.00 at $5.207 $267,000 00


ACCOUNTS PROVIDING' FOR DEBT REQUIREMENTS.


Interest


$70.000 00


Reduction of Funded Debt


74.000 00


Total amount assessed on a valuation of $51,262,400 at $2.809


$144,000 00


ACCOUNTS PROVIDING FOR STATE AND COUNTY TAXES, ETC.


State Tax .


$27,075 00


Deduct one-half of poll taxes, 16,505 00


$10,570 00


County Tax .


. $48,923 22


32,418 22


Metropolitan Sewer Assessment


42,858 09


Non-resident Bank Stock. 995 12


Overlay and Abatement


8,935 69


Total amount assessed on a valua-


tion of $51,262,400 at . $1.869 $95,777 12


In addition to the above, the following appropriations were made from the various income accounts :


From the income of the water works: -


Water Maintenance $50,000 00


Water Works Extension 20,000 00


Water Loan Interest


10,882 50


Reduction of Water Loan Debt 32,500 00


Metropolitan Water Assessment 20,975 58


Reduction of Sewer Loan Debt 8,000 00


Interest on Sewer Loan Bonds 6,700 00


Abatements of Water Charges 5.358 75


Sewers Maintenance . 8,500 00


Metropolitan Sewer Assessment 42,858 09


Sewers Construction


19,722 75


$225,497 67


Salaries, the amount received of the state for corporation and bank taxes 33,831 26


Police, the amount received of the clerk of the courts for fines, costs, etc. 4,013 00


Public Library, the amount received of the county for dog licenses · Sewers Construction, the balance of excess and deficiency account


2,052 86


16,549 22


Total


$281,944 01


.


Deduct one-half of poll taxes, 16,505 00


-


7


MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


'The aggregate appropriations from the tax levy and from income were as follows : -


From tax levy . From income


$882,580 96


281,944 01


Total


$1 164,524 97


The following tables, giving a condensed history of the city's finances, are herewith presented for reference :-


YEAR.


Amount of Funded Debt.


Increase of Funded Debt.


Reduction of Funded Debt.


Tax Rate per $1,000 Valuation on Account of Reduc- tion of Funded Debt.


Town


$593,349


Dec. 31, 1872


1873


809,354


166,000


.


.


1874


1,419,854


610,500


1875


1,571,854


152,000


1876


1,606,854


45,000


*$55,130 62


$2 07


66


1878


1,596,854


61,004 64


2 91


66


1879


1,585,000


64,915 76


3 42


66


1880


1,585,000


55,739 35


2 72


66


1881


1,585,000


58,498 64


2 59


66


1882


1,585,000


61,390 59


2 65


1883


1,585,000


64,479 01


2 70


66


1885


+1,525,000


71,305 66


2 87


66


1886


1,525,000


66,894 23


2 57


1887


1,525,000


70,252 88


2 56


66


1888


1860,500


25,000


37,000 00


1 28


66


1889


952,500


130,000


38,000 00


1 27


66


1890


1,057,500


150,000


45,000 00


1 38


66


1891


1,045,500


45,000


57,000 00


1 55


66


1892


1,194,500


253,000


104,000 00


2 73


66


1893


1,279,500


222,000


137,000 00


3 27


66


1895


1,506,500


247,000


85,000 00


1 83


66


1896


1,531,000


177,000


152,500 00


3 11


1897


1,548,000


167,000


150,000 00


2 39


1898


1,552,000


176,000


172,000 00


3 99


66


1899


1,492,500


110,000


169,500 00


3 30


.


.


.


.


.


1877


1,606,854


10,000


*58,828 58


2 30


.


·


67,719 33


2 78


1884


1,585,000


.


1894


1,344,500


172,000


107,000 00


2 42


*$10,000.00 applied to payment of bonds; balance to sinking funds.


+Sinking fund applied.


643,354


$50,005


8


ANNUAL REPORTS.


YEAR.


VALUATION.


TAX LEVY.


RATE.


1872


$22,755,325


$274,374 45


$13 00


1873


29,643,100


389,214 48


12 80


1874


30,837,700


473,235 50


15 00


1875


31,317,000


518,161 40


16 20


1876


26,573,400


504,745 24


18 60


1877


25,479,400


471,789 14


3 10


1878


20,976,900


409,497 10


19 00


1879


18,950,100


352,553 80


18 00


1880


20,458,100


402,927 71


19 10


1881


22,569,100


452,945 45


19 50


1882


23,162,200


425,721 16


17 80


1883


23,812,900


411,645 43


16 70


1884


24,331,100


418,750 26


16 60


1885


24,878,400


428,605 44


16 60


1886


26,003,200


416,987 28


15 40


1887


27,471,800


424,309 14


14 80


1888


28,765,400


421,458 60


14 00


1889


30,004,600


440,324 40


14 00


1890


32,557,500


447,704 00


14 00


1891


36,843,400


539,137 10


14 00


1892


38,093,100


596,357 50


15 00


1893


41,873,600


675,886 80


15 50


1894


44,142,900


721,165 54


15 70


1895


46,506,300


745,609 02


15 40


1896


49,070,800


786,412 32


15 40


1897


50,231,000


913,574 42


17 30


1898


50,739,700


954,187 11


17 90


1899


51,262,400


882,580 96


16 30


It will be seen by the foregoing tables that matters of much interest and importance have received the careful consideration of the various departments. I am pleased to note the willingness with which my suggestions were adopted, whereby the accumula- tions on funded debt account were allowed to remain practically undisturbed until sufficient borrowing capacity has accrued to provide for public improvements in the early spring season. I am satisfied that the plan has worked well and has been a decided advantage to the city. One great gain is that it will en- able the city to begin the construction of larger public works at an earlier season of the year, and to effect the completion of some of them before the ensuing winter. At the beginning of last year our borrowing capacity was limited to $119,000; at the present time we are enabled to borrow $154,000, which amount I trust you will find sufficiently liberal to provide for all needed improve- ments for the current year.


The prospects held out at the beginning of last year that a smaller tax levy and a corresponding reduction in the tax rate might reasonably be expected have been realized, and the tax rate has been reduced from $17.90 to $16.30 on each $1.000 valuation, a reduction of $1.60 on $1.000. Our funded debt has also been reduced $59,500, and there is a substantial unexpended balance of appropriations to begin the new year. I see no reason why the tax rate should exceed $16.00 in the future.


9


MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


The revenue accruing to the highway department from the corporation tax levied by the state on the street railway com- panies, based on the number of miles of track owned and operated in our city, yielded to that department the sum of $31,513.95, which was added to the appropriation of $40,000 that had already been voted. An additional amount of $29,002.25 will be available at the commencement of the present year, which represents the tax of 1899.


The application of the surplus revenue from the water works towards the payment of interest on sewer loan bonds as it be- comes due, the payment of sewer loan bonds as they mature, and the payment of the Metropolitan sewer loan sinking fund, inter- est, and cost of maintenance as shall be annually assessed by the Commonwealth, has proved to be such a wise expenditure of this income that I heartily indorse the method heretofore adopted, and urgently recommend a continuation of the same method.


I congratulate the members of the Board of Aldermen on the very flourishing condition of the finances of the city generally. and particularly as regards the care which all departments have manifested in keeping within their respective appropriations. Such zeal on the part of those having in charge the expenditure of money is worthy of much commendation, and as many mem- bers of the departments referred to have retired from the govern- ment, I take this opportunity to extend to them my heartfelt thanks for their faithfulness in this particular branch of the ser- vice. The school department has exceeded its appropriation some $2,000, but no committee of the City Government has ex- ceeded the amount appropriated to its use to any extent.


I am pleased at this time, even before an opportunity has been given to close the books for the year, to say that the pros- pects are very encouraging for a closing up of our affairs under most favorable circumstances. A substantial amount will be car- ried over to begin the new year.


Public Schools.


Somerville's public schools are still the pride of the city and the object of admiration of other cities in New England. They occupy at the present time twenty-four buildings, eighteen of which are substantially built of brick, commodious, well venti- lated, and well adapted to educational purposes ; three others are modern wooden buildings; and the remaining three are old structures. that should be replaced as soon as practicable. Dur- ing the year our school accommodations have been increased by the construction and furnishing of a six-room building on Wash- ington street, near Dane street, known as the Albion A. Perry School, at a cost of $26,065, and of a four-room enlargement of the Burns School on Cherry street, at a total expense of $17,978.


10


ANNUAL REPORTS.


A long-needed improvement in the sanitation of the High- land School was effected during the summer vacation. A two- story structure was erected on the southerly side of the building, containing ample toilet rooms for boys and girls on the lower floor, and on the second floor a toilet room for girls, a teachers' room, a storeroom, and an office for the principal. The cost was $6,306.


In July last an addition was made to the Forster School lot, and the construction thereon of a six-room building designed for primary schools was begun. This building will not be ready for use until the first of February. The contract price of the build- ing was $28,336.


During the year the Prescott schoolhouse has been thor- oughly renovated, and new floors laid.


Three old school buildings connected with our earliest school history, the Cedar-street, the Harvard, and the Franklin schoolhouses, have been abandoned.


The pressing need of more room in the English High School will early require your attention. At present the building is badly crowded, and all available space for the accommodation of pupils appears to be taken. An addition to the building seems to be inevitable, in order to provide for the influx of pupils next fall and in the succeeding years. Such an addition will take time to complete. and in the meantime it behooves the City Govern- ment and the School Committee to take the proper steps for se- curing the best form of temporary relief. At present there is a surplus of room in the Latin High School building, which, by a reasonable co-operation between the two schools, could be made to afford some relief to the English School. I would not recom- inend a consolidation of the two schools, but I believe that they can be brought into a more intimate connection, which would re- sult in an advantage to many of the pupils of both schools, a pos- sible economy in instruction, and some of the desired increase in accommodation.


In still another direction there may be an opportunity for temporary relief. The schools at present are conducted on a schedule of hours most suitable and convenient for teachers and pupils alike. At the same time, these spacious buildings, with their costly equipment, are closed and lying idle a large part of the day, when the best principles of economy would require that they be put to some service. While we would like to offer every convenience possible in the way of morning hours of work for the pupils, and also the teachers, it should be remembered that there is another aspect of the question. We are now offering all the advantages of a high school education, the best to be obtained anywhere, and are attracting in this way large numbers of people to the city who wish to educate their sons and daughters. More are accepting our offers for an education than we can comfortably provide for, and are enjoying facilities in excess of those provided


11


MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


by many richer cities. The cost to the city for each high school pupil is $58.13 per annum. The expense of maintaining the English High School alone is about $36,000. There being such a great demand for these costly high school privileges, why could not some schedule providing for the use of the buildings after- noons and on Saturdays be put in operation, as in our colleges and scientific schools, even though it were not so convenient to all the pupils as the present arrangement? These are questions not merely for the School Committee, but for the Board of Aldermen and others, to consider. In September last there were 725 stu- dents in the English High School, and next September there will probably be 800. The lecture hall has been provided with seats the past year, and 125 are there accommodated, but the limit is now reached.


Besides the enlargement of the English High School, an addi- tion of four rooms to the Knapp School in ward two is asked for to meet the immediate requirements of that locality. In ward seven a six-room building should be erected to accommodate the chil- dren in the westerly portion of the ward. A four or six room building is recommended by the Superintendent, to be erected as soon as practicable near the Highland School, if a suitable location can be secured.


Cost of Maintaining Schools.


The expense of maintaining our schools requires about one- third of the entire tax levy, or one-third of $1,000,000. The fol- lowing figures will be of interest :-


Latin High - Teachers' salaries, $12,355.89; care of building, $1,792.57; supplies, $657.60; total, $14,806.06.


English High - Teachers' salaries, $23,392.14; care of building, $3,124.33; supplies, $4,361.36; total, $35,877.83.


Total for maintenance of all the schools - Teachers' salaries $197,659.90; care of buildings, $31,123.81 ; supplies, $16,131.20; total, $244,914.91.


Population of Somerville 60 000


Entire enrollment of pupils for year


11,975


Number of school buildings 24


Valuation of school property


$1.069,604 00


Number of classrooms


220


Number of teachers in December


263


Salaries of teachers .


$197,959 90


Cost of books and supplies


16 131 20


Cost of janitors' services


17.830 61


Cost of fuel . 10,821 02


Cost for each high school pupil 58 13


Cost for each grammar and primary pupil


22 50


Entire expenditures for all school purposes, in- cluding the cost of new buildings additions, and improvements 333.068 00


Expended by the School Board, over which the City Council has no control


213,791 12


12


ANNUAL REPORTS.


Highways.


Nineteen streets have been accepted during the past year, aggregating about two and one-half miles in length.


Eight of these streets have been graded and graveled, and two have been graded and macadamized, and of those previously accepted, but not constructed, four have been graded and grav- eled, and five graded and macadamized.


The northerly side of Washington street, from the Boston line to Tufts street, a distance of 1,800 feet, has been paved with granite blocks at a cost of about $10,000. In this connection the street railway was lowered, necessitating the regrading of the southerly side of the street, which should be attended to the pres- ent year. We now have about two and three-quarters miles of paved streets in the city.


Chauncey and Winthrop avenues, bordering on either side of Broadway park, and having a total length of 2,600 feet, were taken by the Metropolitan Park Commission at the close of the year 1898 for an extension of the Fellsway boulevard. Since the removal of the park fence the commission has removed the sidewalks of these avenues next to the park, and has laid a grass- plat in each, between the roadway and the remaining sidewalk.


A second street railway track has been laid in Somerville avenue and Elm street, from Union square to Davis square. A change of location has also been granted through Davis square to Holland street, but the matter was not arranged early enough for the laying of the tracks before the winter months. As the paving of Davis square awaited the adjustment of this location, that improvement has also been postponed for the present.


The length of railways in our streets, measured as single tracks, is 22.8 miles, and locations have been granted to the West End Street Railway Company, in the past year, for 4.3 miles in addition. These are to extend in Broadway, from Main street to Curtis street, in College avenue, from Broadway to the Med- ford line, and in Boston avenue, from the Medford line to the Medford line again at Mystic river. Before granting these loca- tions, College avenue was widened to sixty feet, the land required for the widening and earth for the necessary filling being given by the trustees of Tufts College. This widening has not, as yet, been constructed. We also have an agreement from the West End Street Railway Company that it will, at its own expense, strengthen the Boston-avenue bridge over Mystic river suffi- ciently for the operation of its railway.


The system of railway tracks in Union square has been re- constructed so as to afford convenient connections between the three lines crossing the square. This work, together with the laying of the high service water pipes, Metropolitan water pipes, storm drains, and gas mains, has so disturbed the surface of the square that it will probably be necessary to relay the paving.


13


MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS


The Massachusetts Pipe Line Gas Company, under authority granted by the Board of Aldermen, has laid two thirty-six-inch gas mains in Washington street (southerly side), Prospect, Houghton, and Springfield streets, from the Boston line to the Cambridge line, a distance of 6,840 feet. This work involved a large amount of labor for inspection and for changing sewers, drains, catch-basins, water mains, and water services, the cost of which has been paid by the company, which was also to restore the surface of the streets to good condition at its own expense.


A new iron bridge has been built by the Fitchburg Railroad Company over its tracks at Beacon street, while the Boston & Maine Railroad Company has temporarily repaired the wooden bridge over the Boston & Lowell railroad at School street, de- ferring the erection of a permanent iron structure at that point until the coming year.


Petition was made in the month of June by the Mayor and Aldermen to the Superior Court for the appointment, under the statutes, of a commission to act in the matter of abolishing the grade crossings of the Boston & Albany railroad at Somerville avenue and of the Fitchburg railroad at Somerville avenue and sundry other streets. Conferences have been held in the matter between the representatives of the railroad companies and the officers of the city, but no definite results have, as yet, been reached. Meetings have also been held with the officials of the Boston & Maine railroad in regard to grade crossings on the Lexington and Arlington branch of its southern division, for- merly the Boston & Lowell railroad.


A large mass of unfinished business has been referred to you by the City Council of 1899, which includes twenty-three petitions for the acceptance of streets.


My experience of the past year convinces me that certain changes should be made in regard to appropriations and expendi- tures for highways. Heretofore we have had a single appropria- tion, to which has been charged the cost of laying out and con- structing new streets, laying crosswalks and gutters, repairing sidewalks, etc., besides the general maintenance.


I believe there should be a separate appropriation for high- ways-construction, and that streets should be laid out under the betterment law. The present method works badly in two ways : First, so much money is expended for the construction of lateral streets, in which the general public has but little interest, that the sum available for the maintenance of the main thoroughfares is not sufficient ; and second, new streets are laid out or accepted in such rapid succession that it is often a year or more after one is made a public street before the money can be spared for its con- struction. Under the betterment law both of these difficulties would be removed. The individual assessments would be light, and I believe they would be cheerfully paid by the abutters if prompt action on the laying out and construction of their streets




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