USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1871 > Part 1
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City Document No. 26.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HON. GEORGE F. VERRY,
MAYOR, JAN. 1, 1872.
WITH THE
ANNUAL REPORTS
OF THE
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT, CITY ENGINEER, WATER COMMISSIONER, FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY, COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS, COMMISSION- ERS OF HOPE CEMETERY, OVERSEERS OF THE POOR, COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS, CITY MARSHAL, FIRE DEPARTMENT, CITY HOSPITAL, AND CITY TREASURER
OF THE
CITY OF WORCESTER,
FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING NOV. 30, 1871.
WORCESTER: PRINTED BY EDWARD R. FISKE, CROMPTON'S BLOCK. 1872.
R 352.07443 W9226 v. 2 1871
CITY OF WORCESTER.
IN CITY COUNCIL, January 8, 1872.
Ordered :
That the Committee on Printing be, and they are hereby authorized to contract for the printing of 1500 copies of the annual "City Document," to be numbered 26; also for the printing of such number of the Annual Reports of the several Departments of the City Government, for the current Municipal Year, as they shall think advisable.
A Copy, Attest : SAMUEL SMITH,
City Clerk.
INDEX.
PAGE.
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
.5
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE 43
SUPERINTENDENT
49
SECRETARY
78
ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE FOR 1872.
118
REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER. 123
REPORT OF THE WATER COMMISSIONER
165
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 183
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS. 215
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF HOPE CEMETERY. 243
REPORT OF THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR ..
.249
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE TRUANT SCHOOL.
259
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER . OF HIGHWAYS.
265
REPORT OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 286
REPORT OF THE CITY MARSHAL. 290
REPORT OF THE CITY PHYSICIAN
297
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE
CITY HOSPITAL.
299
REPORT OF THE CITY TREASURER
309
SCHEDULE OF CITY PROPERTY .378
CITY GOVERNMENT AND OFFICERS FOR 1872
.381
SALARIES.
.390
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen, and Gentlemen of the Common Council :
Called as we have been by the suffrages of our people to the administration of their municipal affairs, as the chief executive officer of the City Government, I follow the uniform example of my predecessors in giving you such information as I have been able to gather of the present condition of the various depart- ments of the City Government, the various enterprises inaugu- rated and in process of completion for the permanent advancement of our beautiful city in material and intellectual wealth, and to offer you such recommendations, necessarily crude and incom- plete, as have occurred to my own mind, tending to facilitate this desirable object.
It is well for us, in assuming the duties of the administration of government, to remember that the end of all government should be " to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights and the blessings of life, that when public exigencies require that the property of any individual should be appropriated to public uses, he should receive a reasonable compensation therefor, that all officers of government are but the substitutes and agents of the people and are at all times accountable to them, and that the people ought to obtain right and justice freely, without being obliged to purchase it, completely and without any denial, promptly and without delay, conformably to law."
Frequent recurrence and studious adherence to these well digested principles of government, will serve us as a guide and compass in the devious ways through which we shall be called to pass, and the arduous labors we shall be expected to perform.
2
6
CİTY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
Guided by these principles and inspired by a confidence in the over-ruling Providence of that Almighty Being whose power reg- ulates our destiny and whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to our people, and lighted by the examples of worthy and disinterested service successfully rendered by those who have conducted the affairs of this Municipal Government before us, we may reasonably indulge the hope that when our terms of office shall expire, we shall be able to point to the record of our admin- istration with the assurance that we have added to our constantly accumulating municipal history another chapter of material and intellectual progress, not unworthy of association with those which precede it.
I need not remind you, who are entrusted with these all absorb- ing cares, that our financial condition will call for your most thorough investigation, and the best efforts which your wisdom and prudence can suggest to provide for the prompt and effectual liquidation of our maturing obligations.
FINANCES.
In dealing with the subject of our financial condition it is desir- able that we should possess ourselves of exact and accurate information as to the amount we owe, how our debt is invested, and when it must be paid, together with our present and prospect- ive means of payment. To all our people this subject is of the greatest interest, and as faithful servants it is our bounden duty to deal frankly with reference to it, concealing no fact or figure that shall tend to enlighten, substituting no fact or figure that shall tend to deceive, or by resort to any ingenious complication of calculations, seek to make our financial condition appear in a more favorable light than it deserves to be stated.
A brief history of the progress by which our debt has accumu- lated, together with some of the causes which have contributed to this result, may not be unprofitable. At the end of the municipal year 1866 our general indebtedness was $303,193.00. Our water debt $155,110.00.
At the end of the municipal year 1869, our general indebtedness was $108,040.07. Our water and sewer debt was $727,018.39. At the end of the municipal year 1870, our general indebtedness
7
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
was represented to be $383,020, showing an increase during that year of $274,979.93.
This result is mainly attributable to the necessary expenses incurred in building new school houses, opening new streets, cut- ting down Main street, in the vicinity of Corbett street, and our subscription to the capital stock of the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad, having during that year paid assessments upon it to the amount of $104,880. Our sewer and water debt at the end of that year amounted to $1,517,000. The financial condition of the city together with the resources, receipts and disbursements of the treasury for eleven months ending Dec. 1st, 1871, is as fol- lows, as nearly as can be ascertained. The whole amount of our indebtedness as nearly as it can be ascertained at the Treasurer's office is $2,459,900.00.
To this must be added claims against the city in great variety, such as claims for damages to estates, by laying out, altering and widening streets, laying out and constructing sewers, claims for unpaid balances for water and sewer construction, claims not yet reported for work on the high school house. I have been unable to ascertain the amount of these claims so as to make even an approximate statement. This debt, $2,459,900, is disposed of as follows :
Funded sewer debt. $499,400
water
794,500
city 66
601,000
Temporary loan
565,000
$2,459,900
The debt has been increased during the past year in the fol- lowing way ;-
Water construction .
$100,000
Sewer
245,000
Boston, Barre and Gardner railroad.
157,320
Soldier's Monument. . 35.000
Front, Lafayette and Hermon streets 27,500
$564,820
The entire sewer debt as far as ascertained is
$1,072,402 04
The entire water debt as far as ascertained is. 752,987 98
The Boston, Barre and Gardner railroad investment is. 262,200 00
8
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
RESOURCES 1871.
Cash on hand Jan. 2, '71
$28,728 28
Received for corporation tax .
42,918 47
taxes. 686,933 75
water rates.
53,795 58
betterments, Chatham and Corbett streets. .
5,461 66
Received for betterments on Mechanic street.
6,166 86
Received for betterments on Winter street .
1,288 29
All other sources not ascertained .
EXPENDITURES 1871.
Paid on sewers, 1871. .
$245,250 24
water works, (as reported by treasurer)
111,200 08
schools.
119,976 00
highways and bridges
139,878 55
new high school house
62,592 61
66 old
19,975 47
66
Belmont street school house
7,866 92
Normal school
15,000 00
Abatement on taxes
1,738 69
The other departments are not fully ascertained, but will ap- pear in the treasurer's report.
Our funded debt, which is mostly invested at six per cent., falls due as follows :
FUNDED WATER LOAN.
FUNDED SEWER LOAK.
FUNDED CITY LOAN.
Due in
Due in
1872
$47,500
1872
$50,000
Due in 1872
$12,000
1873
68,700
1873
80,000
1873
3,000
1874
119,200
1875
20,000
1874
10,000
1875
133,800
1877
87,600
1875
6,000
1876
79,400
1878
33,600
1876
3,000
1877
18,500
1879
16,300
1877
2,000
1878
27,500
1880
143,000
1878
6,000
1879
14,500
1881
68,900
1879
4,000
1880
11,100
1880
8,000
1881
3,000
$499,400
1881
516,000
1882
12,000
1882
6,000
1885
105,000
1883
10,000
1886
126,000
1884
5,000
1887
1023,00
1888
5,300
$601,000
$794,500
A large amount of the funded city loan of $601,000.00 and of the temporary loan of $565,000.00 has been used in the sewer and water construction.
9
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
The real and personal estate belonging to the city, including the waterworks is $1,978,117; 2622 shares Boston, Barre and Gardner railroad at par $262,200; due on Main street school- house, $19,000 ; due from the state, $15,000. Total, $2,274,317. To this may be added estimated sewer assessments and better- ments on streets, the amount of which has not been ascertained. Ascertained city debt. . $2,459,900 00 Increase since Jan. 1, 1867 2,022,623 93
TAXATION.
The valuation of our real estate is $28,039,150 00
" personal 10,102,100 00
$38,141,250 00
Rate per cent of tax $17,40 per $1000. Polls, 11,638.
Amount of state tax $51,075 00
"
county 27,639 23
66
city 595,500 00
Overlayings
12,719 52
Total
$686,933 85 Abatement on taxes assessed in 1871, $1,738.69.
PAYMENT OF THE THE DEBT.
The necessary steps should be taken at once to avail ourselves of the 'means provided by law for raising money for the payment of this debt. Much was done by the last City Government, and much yet remains to be done to accomplish this object, and I trust we shall be able to take the subject up where they have left it, and proceed expeditiously in the performance of this duty.
SEWER ASSESSMENT.
One of the main reliances for the extinguishment of a large portion of this debt has been, and is, the sewer assessment, which was contemplated by the originators of our sewer improvements and expressly provided for in. the statute granting to the city authority to construct sewers. The work of laying sewers under this authority was begun in 1867, and has been steadily continued ever since, but no assessments have ever been made, owing, as I am informed, to the difficulty of adopting an equitable basis of assessment upon those liable to it.
10
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
This question is one which must be encountered by the mayor and aldermen of this city at some time, in fact it has already been too long delayed. The people who are to be called upon to pay, are waiting in anxious suspense to know the amount, and the general tax payers are to some extent clamorous that the assess- ment be made, lest the entire burden of the cost of sewers should be absorbed in the general debt, to be paid by the general tax.
I hope at the earliest practicable moment you will co-operate with me in making this assessment. Upon a careful examination of the subject, I have become satisfied that no arbitrary rule can be adopted, which, strictly followed, will operate equitably to equalize this burden, and while we can hardly hope, owing to the difficulties attending the subject, and the infirmities of human judgment, to do exact and equal justice to all, we should make the effort to approximate as nearly to it as possible.
The act of the legislature, passed March 29th, 1867, under the authority of which our sewers have been constructed, provides, Sec. 4, that " every person owning real estate upon any street in which any drain or sewer may be laid, under or by virtue of this act, and upon the line thereof, or whose real estate may be bene- fitted thereby, shall pay to said city such sum as the mayor and aldermen shall assess upon him as his proportionate share of the expenditure of the city for drains and sewers."
Section 6 provides that the act shall be void unless submitted to the voters of said city of Worcester and approved by them. On the 16th day of April, 1867, at a meeting duly called for that purpose, the act was approved by a vote of 316 in the affirmative to 49 in the negative.
Section 7 of chapter 42 of the City Ordinances provides that " it shall be the duty of the mayor and aldermen to apportion and assess, according to their best judgment, upon the several persons and estates adjoining the line of any common sewer or adjoining any street or highway in which any such sewer is constructed and deriving benefit from such common sewer, either by the entry of their particular drains therein, or by any more remote means, such sum as said mayor and aldermen shall deem to be his pro- portionate share of the expenditure of the city for drains and sewers."
These provisions not only authorize, but compel, the mayor and
11
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
aldermen to make an assessment against persons and estates r fo the purpose of raising a fund to be applied, as far as it may go in payment of our sewer debt, and I think that the duty of mak- ing this assessment should at once be entered upon, with a full determination, upon some equitable basis, to complete it at the earliest practical moment, and when completed the assessment should be promptly collected and applied to the relief of our im- poverished treasury. It should be a fair and equitable assess- ment. His Honor, Mayor Chapin, in his inaugural address of 1871, said, " Nothing is more important to the people than a care- ful and equitable assessment. Much of the reluctance to paying taxes, which is a privilege no one exactly craves, may be traced to a kind of dim certainty that they are not equitably assessed."
It is a proposition which it requires no argument to sustain, that in assessing upon the people a tax for the support of munic- ipal government, care should be taken that the burden fall equal- ly upon all. And in the assessment under consideration this proposition should be constantly recognized, and if it is, our people will, I know, meet cheerfully and heartily the requisitions made upon them in this respect. I think the statute which authorizes the assessment, and the ordinance which makes it the duty of the mayor and aldermen to assess, have, when construed together, furnished the rule by which we are to be guided in mak- ing it.
The statute provides that every person owning real estate upon any street in which a sewer may be laid, or which may be bene- fitted thereby, shall pay such sum as the mayor and aldermen may assess, &c., and the ordinance provides that it it shall be the duty of the mayor and aldermen to assess the several persons and estates, &c., deriving benefit from such common sewer, either by entry of their particular drains therein, or by any more remote means, such sum as they shall deem his proportionate share of the expenditure of the city for drains and sewers.
It seems to me to be clear that the assessment contemplated by these enactments is to be based upon and graduated by the bene- fit derived or to be derived ; therefore no assessment based upon a valuation of the land or by the number of lineal front feet of land which a man may own along the line of any sewer can alone form an equitable basis upon which this assessment can be made.
12
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
A man owns an estate on Chestnut street, for instance, having 300 feet front ; he has a dwelling house upon it ; his land is worth $30,000 ; his family consists of four persons ; he drains from his house into the sewer. Another man owns in another part of the city, an estate of 100 feet front ; upon it he has dwelling houses and tenements which furnish shelter for fifty persons ; his land is worth $3000, his dwellings and tenements drain into the sewer. Attempt an assessment based upon valuation or front feet of land, and how soon you depart from the equitable rule of assess- ment according to benefit derived.
Let those be assessed who derive benefit, cither from entering their own particular drains into the sewer, or by any other more remote means," according to benefit received over and above the general benefit which all citizens alike derive from this great ben- efaction. Such an assessment will without doubt meet the approval and acquiescence of our people. To all citizens of the city the sewers are a general benefit, furnishing as they do sur- face drainage for the streets, thus preventing in a measure the constant wear to which they are subjected from rains and thaws. And also in a sanitary point of view their general benefits are incalculable. So far then as they are of a general benefit they should be paid for as all general benefits are by the community generally. So far as they are a particular benefit they should be paid for by the individuals particularly benefitted, and according to the particular benefit they receive.
My idea, then, is that so far as one derives benefit from the sewers, other and different from the general benefit derived by all citizens alike, he should be assessed for it, and the balance of the cost of the sewers be absorbed in the public debt. The amount of the sewer debt will be found stated in its appropriate place under the head of finances.
By such means as these, the cost of our sewers, which consti- tutes the principal part of our indebtedness, will be easily dis- posed of; its payment will be distributed equitably, and as the debt is now funded with a long day for payment, the burden will fall lightly on those who have to bear it; and those who come after us, and for whose benefit, as well as our own, these improve- ments are made, will be obliged to contribute their proportionate share of the cost.
13
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
I am aware that there are wide differences of opinion as to the proper basis for making this assessment, and although I feel en- tirely confident in the equity and justice of the plan I have sug- gested, I desire that you shall carefully examine the subject, so that, when you come to a conclusion, it may not justly be said that we have been heedless in the performance of this duty.
SINKING FUND.
The last City Council by an ordinance passed, July 24th, 1871, laid out the ground-work for a sinking fund, the purpose of which is to provide for the payment of our debt. It provides that all balances of money remaining in the treasury at the end of any financial year, all receipts in money on account of the sale of real estate of any description now belonging or which may hereafter belong to the city, all receipts on account of the principal sum of any bond or note now owned or which may hereafter be owned by the city, excepting bonds held in trust for specific objects, all receipts in money on account of assessments for benefit and advantage to estates by reason of the laying out, widening, dis- continuance, change of grade or other alteration of streets, and also, of the city tax, the sum of thirty thousand dollars annually shall be appropriated to the purchase or payment of the capital of the city debt.
I would suggest whether in view of our rapidly increasing debt it would not be well to increase the sum to be set aside from the annual tax to fifty thousand dollars. With such active measures as the law authorizes for providing the means of paying our indebtedness, we are justified in taking a hopeful view of our financial condition. Two million dollars of the indebtedness are invested upon long loans at 6 per cent .; the balance of the float- ing debt or temporary loan we may reasonable hope to take care of without much trouble.
With reference to that part of the debt denominated the water debt, it is confidently believed that the income from this invest- ment will not only pay the interest upon it, and the expense of maintaining the department, but furnish also a sinking fund by which the entire debt may eventually be retired.
George W. Wheeler, Esq., for so long our City Treasurer, hav- 3
14
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
ing declined a re-election, now retires from the responsible office he has so honorably filled for twenty-two years. I may be per- mitted to express my sympathy in the rich reward he enjoys in the benediction of a constituency he has so long and so zealously served, and the hope that the new calling upon which he is about to enter, health and prosperity may attend him.
SEWERS.
In addition to the work necessary to be done to complete the sewers already commenced and in process of construction, I deem it proper to advise you of certain contingencies which may make it necessary to take immediate action, and at a very considerable cost, in order to protect ourselves against the consequences of what has already been done. It is feared, when the waters of Mill brook below Fox's factory are diverted into the new channel that the low lands east of the Providence and Worcester Railroad and south of Lafayette street, will require draining as a sanitary precaution.
The present sewer from what is called the Piedmont district, empties into Mill brook below Sargent's card factory, and when the waters of this brook are diverted, there will be no means of carrying the sewage off. Deposited upon this low land and remaining there it would be likely to breed a pestilence in that neighborhood. It will therefore probably be necessary to extend that sewer through this low land, so as to connect it with the main sewer at or near Cambridge street.
It may also become necessary to provide a remedy for the mis- chief which our sewage is in danger of doing to the waters of the Blackstone river, into which it is in great part conveyed. Com- plaints, whether well or ill founded, are not infrequent from those who reside and do business along its valley that the stream is greatly polluted from this cause. If these apprehensions are well founded, the business of providing a remedy will deserve, as I have no doubt it will receive, your earnest and immediate atten- tion. No argument is necessary to enforce the performance of the duty of self-preservation which we owe to ourselves. None should be needed to enforce the performance of that other duty " So use your own as not to injure another," which we owe to our neighbor.
15
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
The subject of providing means for utilizing our sewage has been heretofore discussed, and has been recommended as a profit- able enterprise in a pecuniary point of view. Of this I have no knowledge, but I am advised by the City Engineer that a plan of utilizing the sewage can be adopted which is feasible, and which will at the same time relieve the Blackstone of the nuisance com- plained of, which plan will be submitted to your consideration if it shall be your pleasure to desire it. I would therefore recom- mend that an investigation of these matters be, as soon as prac- ticable, entered upon with a view of providing a remedy, if one is required.
With the duty of providing for the payment of our present debt, and the liability there is that we shall almost immediately be obliged very considerably to increase it for our own self-pro- tection, both in a sanitary and pecuniary point of view, it will be for you to consider whether it is the part of wisdom or prudence to undertake to put down any new street sewers during the com- ing year.
The following statement shows the amount of work done on sewers and Mill brook, and the cost of construction :
Of the work of arching and walling Mill brook, there remains 340 feet between Lincoln square and Court mills, and between Green and Cambridge streets, including both streets, 13362 feet. Since the commencement of the work there has been built, year by year, the following amount of work :
In 1867 by Adam Dawson & Co 1364 feet. In 1868 by E. B. Walker 820 In 1869 1571 66
387 In 1870 66 66
In 1870 by Dawson, Tank & Ingerson.
1765.5 "
In 1871 by E. B. Walker Total. 8951
3043.5 "
Of the above is open canal.
66 66 covered by arch.
4647 feet. 4078.9 "
66 66 66 5 street bridges 225.1 "
Total. 8951
Amount paid on Mill brook to 1871 $383,294 55
in 1871 to Nov. 30 75,721 37
!!
Cost to Dec. 1, 1871 .
$459,015 92
16
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
This amount does not include sums paid for damages to estates, if any, paid by the Treasurer, without passing through the office of the City Engineer.
The balance of all contracts on sewers left over from 1870 were finished early in the season. The contracts for sewers for 1871 were awarded to H. B. Leach & Co., of Philadelphia, and to Leach & Son. Those let this year have not all been finished. Messrs. Leach & Co., and Leach & Son have now to finish 14,350 feet.
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