USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1899 > Part 1
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STREN &TF
& CTTY 1872.
VILLE
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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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