USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1895 > Part 3
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STATEMENT OF FINANCES.
The funded debt of the city January 1, 1895, was as follows : -
Funded Debt, City Loan $842,000
Funded Debt, Sewer Loan .
72,000
Funded Debt, Paving Loan
90,000
Funded Debt, Water Loan .
340,500
Total Funded Debt
$1,344,500
The debt was increased during the year by appropriations made by the City Council as follows : -
Fire Department, Central Fire Station $ 5,700
Fire Department, Fire Station, Ward One 17,700
Fire Department, Hook and Ladder Station,
Highland avenue 1,100
Amount carried forward £ $24,500
3
C- MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1896.
Amount brought forward $ 24,500
Highways, City Stable . 6,000
Highways, paving Medford street, Somer- ville avenue to Cambridge line .
27,400
Public Grounds, Wyatt's Pit
3,600
Public Library Improvement
3,000
Renewals of Funded Debt
177,000
Schoolhouse, English High
27,000
Schoolhouse, High and English High, heat-
ing, ventilating, and plumbing . .
1,000
Schoolhouse, O. S Knapp, addition
1,500
Schoolhouse in Ward Four (William H. Hodgkins)
53,000
Sewers, construction
50,000
Sewers account (amount unappropriated)
50,000
Total amount of increase .
$424,000
The debt was reduced during the year by payments as follows : -
Funded Debt, City Loan . $236,000
Funded Debt, Sewer Loan
2,000
Funded Debt, Paving Loan
5,000
Funded Debt, Water Loan
19,000
Total amount of reduction
$262,000
Leaving the funded debt of the city January 1, 1896, $1,506,500 (an increase of $162,000 over the previous year), classified as follows :- City Loan Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent. $721,000 . City Loan Bonds bearing interest at 42 per cent. 209,000 ·
City Loan Sewer Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent. 119,000
City Loan Sewer Bonds bearing interest at 42 per cent. 16,000
City Loan Sewer Bonds bearing interest at 5 per cent.
35,000
Amount carried forward
$1,100,000
4
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Amount brought forward $1,100,000 City Loan Paving Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent. · Water Loan Bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent. 242,000
85,000
Water Loan Bonds bearing interest at 5 per cent. 69,500 ·
Water Loan Bonds bearing interest at 52 per cent.
10,000
. Total Funded Debt January 1, 1896 $1,506,500
The foregoing amount represents the net indebtedness of the city, the unfunded liabilities for temporary loans, etc., being equalled by its assets, which consist of uncollected taxes, sewer and sidewalk assessments, etc.
To provide for the payment of the current expenses, State and County taxes, and debt requirements of the past year, the annual tax levy was made as follows : -
Real Estate, valuation
$42,879,000
Personal Property, valuation
3,627,300
Total valuation . $46,506,300
A rate of $15.40 on $1,000 valuation, with 14,706 polls at $2.00 each, gives the total amount of tax levy $745,609.02.
The appropriations provided for by the tax levy were as follows :-
Fire Department
$47,000.00
Health Department
21,000.00
Highways 60,000,00 300.00
Indigent Soldiers and Sailors
Interest
70,000.00
Miscellaneous
6,000.00
Police
23,000.00
Police Station Incidentals
3,000.00
Printing and Stationery
6,000.00
Public Grounds
7,000.00
Public Library .
6,500.00
Reduction of Funded Debt
76,000.00
Amount carried forward
$325,800.00
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C- MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1896.
Amount brought forward . $325,800.00
Relief and Burial of Indigent Soldiers and Sailors
5,000.00
Salaries
37,500.00
School Contingent
18,000.00
School Contingent, Janitors' Salaries
12,000.00
School Fuel
9,000.00
Schoolhouse Incidentals
13,000.00
School Teachers' Salaries
134,000.00
Sewers, Maintenance
7,000.00
Sidewalks
10,000.00
Street Lights
45,000.00
Support of Poor
16,150.00 ·
Watering Streets
6,000.00
For current expenses
$638,450.00
State of Massachusetts, State tax 25,890.00
State of Massachusetts, Metropolitan sewer assessment
29,872.56
State of Massachusetts, non-resident bank stock
806.96
County of Middlesex, county tax
40,875.13
Overlay and abatements added for frac- tional divisions and abatements .
9,714.37
Total amount of appropriations pro- vided for by the tax levy .
$745,609.02
In addition to the above, the following appropriations were made from the various income accounts : -
Police, the amount received of the State for corporation and bank taxes . 23,823.54
Police, the amount received of the clerk of the court for fines, costs, etc. 5,874.51
Public Library, the amount received of the county for dog licenses
2,693.51
Water Maintenance, from the income of the water works
34,000.00
Amount carried forward $812,000.58
6
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Amount brought forward $812,000.58
Water Works Extension, from the income of the water works 31,000.00
Water Loan Interest, from the income of the water works 14,250.00
Reduction of Funded Debt, balance of
income of the water works
10,181.46
Total amount of appropriations for
the year
$867,432.04
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
643,354
$ 50,005
.
.
66
1874
1,419,854
610,500
1875
1,571,854
152,000
66
1876
1,606,844
45,000
$ 55,130.62
$2.07
1877
1,606,854
10,000
58,828.58
2.30
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
1884
1,585,000
67,719.33
2.78
66
1885
*1,525,000
71,305.66
2.87
1886
66,894.23
2.57
1,525,000
70,252.88
2.56
1888
*860,500
25,000
37,000.00
1.28
1889
952,500
130,000
38,000.00
1.27
1890
1,057,500
150,000
45,000.00
1.38
1891
1,045,500
45,000
57,000.00
1.55
66
1892
1,194,500
253,000
104,000.00
2.73
1893
1,279,500
222,000
137,000.00
3.27
1894
1,344,500
172,000
107,000.00
2.42
66
1895
1,506,500
247,000
85,000.00
1.83
.
.
1873
809,354
166,000
·
·
* Sinking Fund applied.
1,525,000
1887
7
C-MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1896.
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
18.10
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
FUNDED DEBT.
It will be seen by the foregoing tables that the funded debt of the city has been largely increased during the last seven years. Much of this increase has been occasioned by public improvements which could not longer be postponed. You all know what constant and rapid growth our city has made of late, standing in the front rank of Massachusetts cities in this respect. The development of large tracts of unimproved land, involving the erection of several hundred houses each year, has taxed to the utmost every branch of the city's service. It has necessitated liberal expenditures for the extension of water works and sewers, the construction and paving of highways and sidewalks, the increase of street lights, the enlargement of the Police and Fire Departments, the erection of new and the remodel- ing of old public buildings, and many other absolute, pressing needs. The cost of new schoolhouses has been one of the most prominent
8
ANNUAL REPORTS.
items in the increase of the municipal debt, and this was imperatively demanded by the phenomenal growth of our school population. I believe we ought not to criticise, but rather to commend, the public- spirited action of our more recent municipal administrations in so generously responding to the urgent requirements of the present hour, and so wisely anticipating and providing for the future needs of the city.
While I am pleased to recognize the wisdom and foresight of our predecessors in office, I yet deem it my duty to urge you not to sanc- tion any further expansion of our public debt, except within the limits prescribed by existing laws. I am convinced that our indebtedness has now reached a point which calls for a temporary halt. Already a considerable part of the annual outlay is, of necessity, applied to payments of interest and principal accruing upon our funded debt,- a debt which, if allowed to increase with undiminished rapidity, will soon become burdensome to the tax-payer and detrimental to our standing as a city. I do not wish to sound any uncalled-for note of alarm, but merely to counsel prudence and conservatism in the man- agement of our finances. It is gratifying to know and to record that the present financial condition of Somerville compares favorably with the other cities of the Commonwealth ; and yet this fact would afford much keener satisfaction, were it not apparent to all observing men that a marked tendency has disclosed itself in recent years, in many of our Massachusetts cities, to take on unusual and oppressive burdens of indebtedness.
Periods of inordinate public expenditure, accompanied by undue inflation of public debt, occur, with slightly varying regularity, in the history of nations, states, and municipalities. Such a period was ushered in at the close of our Civil War, and a steady increase of municipal indebtedness continued without appreciable check for nearly ten years. At length the situation became so alarming that State legislatures were appealed to, and laws were passed to restrain and limit the power of city and town governments to impose excessive burdens of debt and taxation. In the year 1875 our own Legislature passed a law, which became operative in 1876, forbidding any city or town to incur debt, except for water supply, in excess of three per cent. of the valuation of the taxable property in such city or town, and also providing, by way of annual contributions to a sinking fund, for the reduction and early payment of all existing debts in excess of
9
C- MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1896.
the limit established by the Act. Ten years later the subject of municipal indebtedness was again considered by our General Court, and an Act was adopted which fixed the debt limit in each city, except the City of Boston, at two and one-half per cent. of the average valuation of the taxable property therein for the three years preceding the date of the computation of the debt. By the same Act the pres- ent tax limit of twelve dollars on a thousand for municipal expendi- tures, exclusive of sums required for city debt, was established.
Under the operation of the salutary law of 1875, municipal debts were rapidly reduced, and the financial condition of the cities of the Commonwealth materially improved. I regret to say that the legis- lation of 1885, in so far as it related to the limit of municipal indebt- edness, has proved a dead letter. Since its adoption the Legislature has been annually besieged by many cities, asking for the enactment of special laws which would permit them to borrow money and create debt outside of the fixed limit. The favors asked have been almost uniformly granted, until we now find several of our Massachusetts cities burdened with exorbitant debts. Somerville has been one of the successful petitioners for such special legislation, although not to an extent which need cause any anxiety. The net amount of our indebtedness, outside of the statutory debt limit, on the first day of the present month, was $185,000.
Many of our ablest financiers are beginning to voice a protest against the existing tendency to increase municipal indebtedness by special legislation. It is expected that the present Legislature will be asked to consider a proposed amendment to the State Constitu- tion, which shall limit the power of cities and towns to contract debt. I am firmly of the opinion that our representatives in the General Court should be instructed to favor such a constitutional provision. A constitutional debt limit has already been established in many States, and has proved a valuable check upon the extravagant ex- penditure of public funds.
I am neither in sympathy with the doctrine that a public debt is a public blessing, nor in favor of shifting to the shoulders of posterity the burdens which ought really to be borne by the people of to-day. Every dollar of indebtedness which a city incurs is a mortgage on the private property of its citizens, and goes to increase the annual tax levy until it is finally paid. Future generations will be compelled to deal with their own financial problems, and they ought not to be
10
ANNUAL REPORTS.
obliged to enter the field handicapped by a heavy weight of debt bequeathed to them by their predecessors.
Somerville has now a borrowing capacity, within the statutory debt limit, of $103,964. This will be increased from time to time during the present year as maturing obligations are paid. I am satis- fied that the tax levy will be sufficient to meet ordinary expenses, and that all additional sums required for the erection of new schoolhouses, or other permanent additions to the public property, can be provided without again appearing before the Legislature as a suppliant for special favors in the way of borrowing money.
I have dwelt at some length upon the subject of our funded debt, because it is one of the most serious and perplexing questions with which city councils have to deal. I trust you will not consider it a wise policy to strain the credit of the city to its utmost limit, leaving no margin for imperative demands which may at any time be thrust upon us. I know of no sagacious business man who conducts his private affairs conformably to such a dangerous theory. From the latest figures I have been able to obtain, compiled on the first day of last July, it appears that among the thirty-one cities of the Common- wealth, only six have a smaller net indebtedness, in proportion to valuation and exclusive of water debt, than Somerville, and but seven cities have a lower tax rate. I should deeply regret to see our city occupying a less commendable position at the close of the present municipal year.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Generous response has been made during the last few years to the requests of this department for new buildings and additional fire apparatus. Our city councils have not only dealt with present needs ; they have also made wise and liberal provision for future require- ments. The engine houses are, for the most part, models of their kind, and their equipment is of the highest degree of excellence. The building now in process of erection, at the corner of Broadway and Cross street, will, when completed, furnish a valuable addition to the fire service in that part of the city. The department is, on the whole, well organized, and performs its important work with prompt- ness and efficiency. In view of the liberal expenditures of late for fire stations, I believe no new building should be erected during the present year. I would, however, recommend that the house of Engine No. 4 be thoroughly repaired, and a lot of land purchased on
11
C- MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1896.
Clarendon Hill as a site for a fire station to be hereafter built. The forthcoming report of the Chief Engineer will supply you with all needed facts as to the present condition and prospective wants of his department.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
The police force, regular and reserve, numbers forty-nine men, organized as follows : One chief, one captain, four sergeants, two drivers of signal system wagon and ambulance, thirty-four patrolmen (two of whom are physically disabled for street work and on duty at Police Station), and seven reserve officers. All of the reserve force are now on active duty. The Chief of Police is of the opinion that the force should be increased, so as to give, at least, one officer for each one thousand of population. He also recommends that some place be provided by the City or State for the Somerville Light Infantry, so that the room in the Police Station now occupied by the military company may be divided into sleeping apartments for the use of such members of the police force as are needed in the station at night to respond to fire and other emergency demands. The usefulness of the police ambulance has been clearly shown during the past year by its prompt response to 135 calls. If quiet and good order upon our streets, and marked immunity from misdemeanors and crimes within our borders, are indications of fidelity on the part of the officers of the law, then the police force of Somerville is entitled to warm com- mendation.
Our Police Department ought to be, and I believe in the main is, composed of men of intelligence and probity. Its officers are clothed with great powers and charged with grave responsibilities. To a certain extent they are the guardians of our homes, the conservators of public morals. No trifling part of their duty during the next twelve months will be the execution of the laws forbidding the sale of alcoholic liquors. At the late municipal election, with an emphasis absolutely unmistakable, our people again recorded their protest against the traffic in intoxicants. I shall zealously co-operate with the Chief of Police in the rigid and impartial enforcement of the law in every nook and corner of the city.
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
This benevolent and indispensable branch of our municipal ser- vice has not been neglected during the past year. I will not take
12
ANNUAL REPORTS.
time to chronicle its benefactions, or give you the details of its receipts and disbursements. All of these will be found in the annual report of the Board.
The Overseers believe that the work of their department could be more successfully and humanely done if a city almshouse were pro- vided. While I have not yet satisfied myself as to the advisability of building an almshouse, I commend the subject to you as deserving careful investigation.
SOMERVILLE HOSPITAL.
This worthy institution has completed another year of useful, phil- anthropic service in our community. While it is not under municipal control, nor supported from the public treasury, it has, nevertheless, a strong claim upon the sympathy and aid of every citizen. Founded by a noble woman, whose generous impulses seem but to brighten as the shadows deepen about her own life, it stands, with open doors, an asylum for the sick and suffering of every race and every creed. I trust our people will see to it that funds are not lacking for the humane and truly religious work of the Somerville Hospital.
DEPARTMENT OF CITY ENGINEERING.
By reason of a tragedy, whose pathetic echoes are still audible in every quarter of our city, we find one of the most important depart- ments of the public service to-day without an official head. This is not the time or place to pay tribute to, or pass judgment upon, the official career of Horace L. Eaton. I should, however, feel that I had neglected a sacred duty if I failed to accord to our departed friend the honor due to his memory for faithful, conscientious service rendered in the city's behalf. He would, indeed, have been more than human had he never made a mistake. It is pleasant to recall that he won the love and confidence of the men who were most closely associated with him in official work. Our deepest regret is born of the knowledge that his heart was too tender, his sensibilities too keen to withstand the fierce onslaught of those who, as he believed, were seeking to rob him of that which was dearer even than life,- his untarnished reputation.
It is of prime necessity that the department of City Engineering should be in the hands of competent, faithful men. Many of the most important branches of public work-including highways, water
13
C- MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1896.
works, and sewers- are dependent upon the skill, accuracy, and technical knowledge of the City Engineer. At the present time, in particular, we require the best obtainable service in the department under consideration. Existing sewers must be adapted to and con- nected with the Metropolitan system. Several new districts must be provided with sewers. The Mystic Water Works will need to be arranged to receive and distribute the new Metropolitan supply. Large undertakings in the way of street building and paving confront us. Correct grades must be given for new public buildings. These and many other grave municipal problems call for a City Engineer of the first class. The services of such an official cannot, I believe, be obtained for the meagre compensation hitherto paid. We must either raise the salary to a point commensurate with the duties of the office, or content ourselves with talents and acquirements less than the very best.
SEWERS.
No large sewers have been built during the past year, but, the present Board of Aldermen will be obliged to deal with several important and intricate sewerage problems. I will not take time to discuss these questions to-day, but merely refer to three or four of the projects which will demand your closest study and most intelli- gent action.
First : You will be called upon to adopt and construct a sewerage system for a large territory in the westerly part of our city, known as the " Tannery Brook Valley." This section, comprising about ninety- one acres, is being rapidly built upon, and the grade of the land is such that the house drainage cannot be conducted through any exist- ing sewer. Legislative sanction has been obtained for building a sewer through territory of the City of Cambridge to connect with the Metropolitan sewer at Alewife Brook, and thus relieve the Tannery Brook District. Consent of the Cambridge City Council must first be obtained, and this would doubtless have been already accom- plished but for the interruption of negotiations occasioned by the death of Mr. Eaton.
Second : A tract of land, with a drainage area of about eighty-two acres, lying near Broadway and the Medford line, in the College Hill District, must be provided with sewers. This system will have its connection with the Metropolitan Sewer in Medford. A plan for the
14
ANNUAL REPORTS.
work, satisfactory to Somerville and Medford, has already been per- fected, and sewers are now in process of construction in that district.
Third : Radical changes should be made in the method of dis- posing of the sewage from the great slaughtering and packing establishments on the southerly boundary of our city. The more offensive part of this sewage must be conducted into the Metropolitan system, while the comparatively inoffensive waste water, amounting to about 2,500,000 gallons daily, may safely be discharged through another line of sewers into Miller's River.
Fourth : Some plan must be formulated for the improvement of our old trunk sewers, so as to prevent the flooding of cellars, which now takes place in several parts of Somerville during severe storms.
Unfortunately, sewer construction has been largely carried on in the past by piecemeal, and not in conformity to a broad plan framed for future, as well as present, needs. Such a method is sure to result finally in public inconvenience and pecuniary loss. In view of the present defects in our sewer system, would it not be well to submit the entire drainage question to a competent engineer, whose duty it should be to remedy existing evils, and perfect a compre- hensive plan for all future work in the Sewer Department?
MYSTIC WATER DEPARTMENT.
During the year 1895 the Water Board caused to be laid about six miles of iron pipe, of which 11,440 feet represented practically new work, and was charged to Construction Account ; the balance, 19,781 feet, replaced an equal length of old cement pipe which had become unfit for further use. There yet remain over nineteen miles of cement pipe which the Board is desirous of taking up as rapidly as the finances of the city will permit.
It gives me satisfaction to be able to state that, under the Metro- politan system, Somerville will soon have a new water supply of greatly improved quality and abundant quantity. In the past we have been compelled to rely solely upon the Mystic Lake. The character of this water has been highly objectionable, and, in times of severe drought, its use occasionally curtailed. The establishment of the Metropolitan Water District, of which our city forms a part, is one of the most beneficent and far-reaching acts of modern legislation. The day of sharp and selfish competition among the cities of the Commonwealth to secure water supplies has passed. None too soon did our legislators
15
C- MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1896.
awake to the truth that the lakes and streams of the State are a natural bounty, bestowed by the Creator, and that no one city has a right unduly to monopolize their benefits. Hereafter, in the matter of our water supply, we shall stand on an equal footing, not only with our suburban neighbors, but also with Boston herself. If time per- mitted, I should be pleased to give you such information as I possess in regard to the taking of the Nashua River as a source of water supply, an undertaking of colossal proportions, and one in which every citizen of Somerville ought to feel deep interest.
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