USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1923 > Part 3
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Voted, Article 4. The report of the Finance Committee be accepted, and the recommendations be adopted as follows: That the town discontinue as a public way that portion of Middlesex avenue, immediately in front of the Clarke School lot, extending from the continuation of the south- west boundary of the school lot, for a distance of about 210 feet, and that the sum of $300 be appropriated for the purpose of closing that discontinued portion of said street.
Voted, Article 3. To be indefinitely postponed.
Voted, Article 6. The report of the Finance Committee be accepted, and the recommendations be adopted as follows :- For the purposes speci- fied in Article 1, which relates to the replacement of water mains in Rock avenue, Beach avenue, Rockland street, Redington street and Boynton street, that the Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, be author- ized to borrow a sum not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars, and to issue bonds or notes of the town therefor; said bonds or notes to be signed by the Treasurer and countersigned by a majority of the Selectmen, and shall be issued and payable in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 134 of the Acts of 1923, and of Section 19 of Chapter 44 of the General Laws, so that the whole loan shall be paid in not more than thirty years from the date of the issue of the first bond or note, or at such earlier dates as the Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, may determine; said bonds or notes shall be denominated on the face thereof "Swampscott Water Loan, Act 1923" and shall bear such rates of interest as may be fixed by the Treasurer with the approval of the Selectmen. (Unanimous.)
Voted to dissolve at 8 o'clock.
Attest : RALPH D. MERRITT, Town Clerk.
Adjourned Annual Town Meeting, April 3, 1923
In accordance with the adjournment of February 20, 1923, the voters were called to order by Daniel F. Knowlton, Moderator, at 8 o'clock.
Voted to dispense with the reading of the records of last meeting.
The report of the Finance Committee was read by Harry D. Linscott, Chairman.
REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of Swampscott:
The Finance Committee submits herewith its report on matters in the Warrant of the Annual Town Meeting of 1923.
During the past five years the town's expenditures have been as follows:
Year
Money Obtained from Taxes and Receipts $404,872 00
Borrowed Money
Total
1918
$ 19,000 00
$423,872 00
1919
404,383 00
30,800 00
435,183 00
1920
487,276 00
166,000 00 653,276 00
1921
524,730 00 74,500 00 599,230 00
1922
537,025 00
41,500 00
578,525 00
29
TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS
1923]
The total amount called for by the articles in the 1923 warrant is approx- imately $715,000. If all the appropriations asked for in the warrant were voted, the present tax rate of $25 per thousand would undergo a very radical increase. The warrant must be considered as a whole. Every warrant contains some articles not needed, and others which, although at the time they seem important to groups of citizens particularly interested, must nevertheless give way to more essential matters and be postponed to a later date. If we annually loaded up the town with all the expense asked, the result would be not only unfair to all the citizens, whether property owners or rent payers, but in a very few years the town would have difficulty in raising money for matters of absolute necessity. Only customary and essential expenditures should be passed.
Of the amounts asked, the Finance Committee has recommended a total of $580,000 to be raised from receipts and taxes and $48,500 to be raised by borrowing. This means that the amount to be raised by direct taxa- tion, if our recommendations are followed, is approximately $43,000 more than a year ago. The tax rate will doubtless be raised. From this it is apparent that we have taken no narrow or parsimonious view of public service. Possibly we have not cut down as much as we might. But with the regular departments and established activities of the town requiring $43,000 more than a year ago, we certainly ought not to be launched into some of the other functions called for in the warrant, no matter how estimable their supporters may regard them.
As to money borrowed, we would call attention to the fact that we are paying annually something like $38,000 in interest and $70,000 on prin- cipal of money borrowed, which comes directly out of taxation. Hence to advocate an article because it can be bonded is short sighted to say the least. Furthermore, our bonded indebtedness will jump rapidly in the next few years because of inevitable school additions.
In discussing the question of expense during the present year and likely to come up in the near future, we think it proper to direct attention to the school department because this is the largest single department in the town, the one directly affecting the greatest number of citizens, and the one most rapidly expanding.
As we pointed out a year ago, the annual school expense for the past years has been: 1918, $66,334; 1919, $70,826; 1920, $91,532; 1921, $131,- 669; 1922, $129,321; 1923, asked $136,963. The cost from 1919 to 1922 increased 95 per cent. The average membership in the schools during the same period increased 11 per cent. Those figures do not include new buildings and additions, which have cost approximately $170,000. Much of the increase, of course, has been due to rising prices.
A study of the annual report of the School Committee would indicate that the cost will increase greatly in the next few years. In addition to acquiring land and buildings next to the Hadley School, for which an ar- ticle is in the present warrant, this department plans or desires in the near future to erect a new high school (Town Report, page 87), to change the present high into a grammar school "after suitable alterations" (page 87), to erect an elementary school (page 95), to add or expand industrial arts and vocational training courses in junior and senior high schools (pages 95, 101).
The cost of school expansion has become a very serious problem, ac- cording to a report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching made by its president, Henry S. Pritchett, formerly head of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If continued at the present rate, he believes, the support will become so burdensome as to cause a break- down similar to that now existing with the railroads, which with difficulty obtain money for actual needs. Nor is this expansion increasing efficiency in education. To quote a few sentences from his report :
"The so-called 'enrichment' in the curriculum of schools has perhaps been the most influential factor in the rise of the cost of public educa- tion. Through the exaggerated enrichment of the curriculum not only have numberless studies been added but pupils have been led to believe
30
TOWN DOCUMENTS
[Dec. 31
that superficial knowledge of many things could replace the intellectual discipline that comes from mastery of a few things. . . . It is not too much to say that the vocational training offered in the high schools has so little of the sharp, accurate responsibility of the well-trained techni- cian, and is so poorly related to the facts and circumstances of these voca- tions, that it is in a great measure an educational farce. The teaching of vocations in high schools is a mistake. . There are certain studies which form part of the intellectual background of an American child who is to discharge the duties of citizenship and lead a useful and happy life.
. . . In contrast with this notion has arisen another theory of education; that the child must . . . be taught something of every form of knowledge in which the modern world interests itself. The first conception makes for sincerity, thoroughness and intellectual vigor. The second, only too often, in the endeavor to give the child some grasp of all knowl- edge, gives him only the most superficial smattering and instead of quick- ening his powers of reason tends to give him the impression that he can solve the problems of his own life and of his country by the same super- ficial process that he has learned in school. The cost of education, no less than the educational result itself, depends upon the conception of what a school can do, and the answer to that question is the first step toward a decision as to whether the enrichment of the curriculum shall continue along the lines followed in the last decade. The right limit to the cost of the school system will be found in a sound decision as to what a school can and ought to do, and the resolute development of the school system in accordance with this decision."
We do not cite the foregoing as a criticism of the Swampscott School Department. It applies to schools generally. We do not say the present school cost in Swampscott is excessive, although we do believe the funds provided are ample. As a matter of normal growth the school is prob- ably bound to cover a greater variety of activities than a decade back. A certain amount of expansion is healthy progress. Believing, from pres- ent indications, that the town will be called upon to face still higher school costs in the near future, however, and with a movement on foot for a new high school, the erection of which probably would be not less than half a million dollars, we do not think it out of place in this report to call to the attention of those who vote appropriations that, in addition to the matter of taxation, there is a serious question as to whether the 'educational system is improved by continued expansion and increasing expense. Demands for more room might well be taken care of when nec- essary by additions to present structures.
The school appropriation recommended this year is $135,463, or about $6,000 over last year. We believe this sufficient to care for the custom- ary overhead, pay automatic and other increases, add three new teachers, provide additional equipment and make necessary repairs. Among the repairs, we assume the boilers at the High and Hadley schools will be retubed and some repairs made in the heating equipment at the Clarke school.
The expense of the Street Department has increased considerably this year owing to the large amount of snow, which was removed at a cost of approximately $15,000, the conditions left by an unusually hard winter, and the necessity of purchasing a new road roller to cost $5,300 net and new plows and a scraper at $1,000. The town meeting of 1920 passed a resolution that it was the sense of the meeting that all departments pay their laboring men at the rate of $5 per day. While this was not binding on the heads of departments, who have a right to use their own judgment in hiring labor so long as they keep within their appropriations, the prac- tical effect of it was to make $5 per day a fixed rate. We have not recom- mended that the wages of regular town employees be cut this year, but as some departments hire more or less extra labor at times, and as $5 is in excess of that paid by a number of other cities and towns, we believe it would be well to rescind this resolution.
There are articles in the warrant this year calling for an expenditure totalling $28,000 for constructing culverts over portions of brooks. Some
31
TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS
1923]
of these are matters of convenience and one is a matter of necessity. In any event the town cannot undertake to do them in any one year, and in recommending an additional appropriation of $5,300 for extending the Stacey Brook culvert from New Ocean street to the Lynn line near East- ern avenue, we feel we have gone as far as is justified for 1923.
In the way of permanent street construction we have recommended re- building Essex street to the Salem line, half the cost to be shared by the State and County, the town's expense to be $24,000.
There is a possibility that the town may have to refund a portion of the national bank tax distributed to it by the State, which according to a court decision has been illegally assessed. The assessors estimate that the amount to be refunded may run as high as $100,000. This will not come up this year, and is not yet a certainty, but is something that may have to be faced.
We recommend a transfer of $24,000 from the Excess and Deficiency Fund of the town, and of $3,847.11 from Reserve from Overlay, the amounts so transferred to be credited to current revenue for the year 1923.
Article 3-To hear and act on the reports of: Town Clerk, School Com- mittee, Captain of Police, Board of Fire Engineers, Board of Assessors, Town Engineer, Forest Warden, Superintendent of Moth Work, Tree Warden, Treasurer's Report, Trust Funds Commissioners, Superintendent of Cemetery, Building Inspector, Trustees of Public Library, Library Building Committee, Board of Health, Health Officer, Health Nurse, Milk Inspector, Inspector of Plumbing, Park Commissioners, Surveyor of High- ways, Water and Sewerage Board, Sealer of Weights and Measures, Addi- tion to Palmer School, Overseers of the Poor, Dog Officer, Fourth of July Committee, Collector of Taxes, Board of Selectmen, Town Accountant's Report, Finance Committee.
Such portions of the above reports as call for appropriation of money are set forth separately under later articles in the warrant and we rec- ommend that they be so taken up.
Article 4-To see what amount of bonds will be required of the Town Treasurer for the ensuing year.
We recommend that the bond required of the Town Treasurer for the ensuing year be in the sum of $30,000.
Article 5-To see what amount of bonds will be required of the Collec- tor of Taxes for the ensuing year.
We recommend that the bond required of the Collector of Taxes for the ensuing year be in the sum of $20,000.
Article 6-To see what amount of bonds will be required of the Water and Sewerage. Board for the ensuing year.
We recommend that the bonds required of the Water and Sewerage Board for the ensuing year be in the sum of $6,000 for each member.
Article 7-To see what amount of bonds will be required of the Town Clerk for the ensuing year.
We recommend that the bond required of the Town Clerk for the en- suing year be in the sum of $1,000.
Article 8-To see what action the town will take in relation to salaries of town officials for the ensuing year.
We recommend that salaries of town officials remain the same as of last year.
Article 10-To see what action the town will take in relation to the rec- ommendations in the report of the School Committee, as contained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on pages 87 and 94.
There being no recommendations by the School Committee on pages 87 and 94 calling for an appropriation of money, we make no report under this article. The school budget is taken up under Article 17.
Article 11-To see what action the town will take in relation to the recommendations in the report of the Captain of Police, as contained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on pages 108 and 109.
32
TOWN DOCUMENTS
[Dec. 31
We recommend that the matters referred to under this article be taken up under Article 17.
Article 12-To see what action the town will take in relation to the recommendations in the report of the Board of Fire Engineers, as con- tained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on pages 111, 112 and 113.
We recommend that the matters referred to under this article be taken up under Article 17.
Article 13-To see what action the town will take in relation to the recommendations in the report of the Board of Health, as contained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on pages 145 and 149.
With reference to the matters ou pages 145 and 149, we recommend that the question of a dental clinic be indefinitely postponed. We rec- ommend that the question of extending the sewer on Mountain avenue under Article 43 and that the other matters be taken up under Article 17.
Article 14-To see what action the town will take in relation to the recommendations in the report of the Park Commissioners, as contained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on pages 155 and 156.
With regard to improving the easterly end of Blaney Beach Reservation opposite Orient court, we recommend that the grounds in question be cleared of rubbish and that the Park Board endeavor to prevent the same from being used as a dumping and storage place; that the town way leading from Puritan road to said reservation be made more pass- able; that the fence be repaired and painted where necessary and a board barrier be placed at one or two places where necessary to prevent sand blowing; and that the sum of one hundred dollars ($100) be appro- priated for the foregoing. We also recommend that the drain leading from Orient court to the easterly end of said town way be discontinued and the drainage at this point be carried to the cement culvert. This would be done by the Street Department.
With reference to the other matters on pages 155 and 156, we recom- mend that they be taken up under Article 17.
Article 15-To see what action the town will take in relation to the recommendations in the report of the Surveyor of Highways, as con- tained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on page 160.
We recommend that the matters ou page 160 be taken up under Arti- cles 25, 27 and 28.
Article 16-To see what action the town will take in relation to the recommendations in the report of the Water and Sewerage Board, as contained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on pages 161, 168 and 170.
The recommendation ou page 161 for fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) for replacement of certain water mains has been placed in the warrant for a special meeting and is reported thereunder.
We recommend that the unexpended balances from appropriations from water mains on Morton road, Francis road, Lawrence terrace, Elmwood road, Bradlee avenue and Franklin avenue, amounting in all to $974.65, be transferred to the Water Emergency Fund.
With reference to the matters on page 168, we recommend that the un- expended balance from the amount appropriated in 1922 for construction of the Cherry street sewer, said balance amounting to $1,433.81, and the unexpended balance from the Hillcrest circle sewer, said balance amount- ing to $44.89, be transferred to the Sewer Emergency Fund, to be used by the Water and Sewerage Board, so far as practical, in construction of sewers voted by the town in any year where the amount appropriated is less than the cost, or for such other purposes as the town may at any time vote.
We recommend that the other matters on page 168 be taken up under Article 17.
As to the matters on page 170, they are set forth in later articles of
33
TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS
1923]
the warrant, and we recommend that they be so taken up.
Article 17-To see what action the town will take in relation to the recommendations in the report of the Board of Selectmen, as contained in the Annual Report, dated December 31, 1922, on pages 188, 189, 192, 193, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203 and 204.
With reference to the matter of rebuilding Essex street, referred to on page 192, during the past year the Board of Selectmen and others have taken the matter up with the State and County authorities and we under- stand that they are willing to share a part of the expense. We recommend that Essex street be reconstructed with cement from the end of the ce- ment road near the freight station to the Salem line and that for the town's share of the expense the sum of twenty-four thousand dollars ($24,000) be appropriated therefor to be raised by notes or bonds of the town, upon condition, however, that the Division of Highways on behalf of the Commonwealth, and the County Commissioners on behalf of the County of Essex, each contribute one-fourth of the expense thereof, the work to be done in accordance with specifications approved by the Divi- sion of Highways.
With reference to the matter of extension of Stacey Brook culvert, referred to on page 195, we would say that in view of the fact that this brook contains sewage in times of heavy rains, and that such sewage comes from the overflow of the Lynn sewerage system on such occa- sions, and as the same is declared by the Board of Health to be a menace to public health, and as the Town of Swampscott and the City of Lynn have jointly borne the expense of building a culvert over this brook, as far as New Ocean street, we recommend that the town construct jointly with the City of Lynn a concrete culvert over Stacey Brook from the end of the present culvert at New Ocean street northerly, a distance of about 570 feet to the Lynn culvert, the total expense not to exceed twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), said expense to be borne equally between the Town of Swampscott and the City of Lynn, and that for the town's share of said expense the unexpended balance from the 1922 Stacey Brook Construction Fund, which balance amounts to $4,771.16, be used and in addition thereto that the town appropriate the sum of five thou- sand ($5,000), to be raised by notes or bonds of the town; and that the Board of Selectmen be authorized to enter into a contract jointly with the City of Lynn for the carrying out of the purposes of this contract, proper waivers from owners of property upon or through which said work is to be done to be first obtained, if in the opinion of said Board the same are necessary for the protection of the town. We understand that this will end the Stacey Brook question at least for the present.
With reference to the other matters on pages 188, 189, 192, 193, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, we recommend the appropriation of the following amounts for the several town departments and for the other specific purposes as set forth below :
General Government
Legislative
$ 300 00
Selectmen
2,200 00
Accountant
2,000 00
Treasurer
1,320 00
Printing, certification and advertising
500 00
Collector of Taxes .
3,100 00
Assessors
3,125 00
Town Clerk
700 00
Law
1,000 00
Election and Registration
875 00
Engineering
5,775 00
Town Hall
3,000 00
34
TOWN DOCUMENTS [Dec. 31
Protection of Life and Property
Police Department
$26,281 00
Fire-General
26,700 00
Fire-Special, Hydrant rental
1,000 00
Three new boxes
480 00
Hose wagon and service car Horses
7 33
Sealer
530 00
Moth Department
4,500 00
Tree Warden
1,485 00
Forest Warden
200 00
Dog Officer
150 00
Building Inspector
450 00
Health and Sanitation
Board of Health
$ 6,850 00
Health Nurse
1,250 00
Refuse, Garbage and Night Soil
10,000 00
Cleaning Beaches
691 00
Sewers, Maintenance
8,200 00
Care of Brooks
500 00
Particular Sewers
500 00
Highways and Bridges
Administration
$ 2,500 00
Repairs, Equipment and Maintenance
39,500 00
Snow Removal
20,373 21
Sidewalks and Curbing.
1,500 00
Street Construction
2,000 00
Watering and Oiling
5,000 00
Seal Coating
2,500 00
Continuous Sidewalks
2,500 00
Street Lighting
17,000 00
Charities and Soldiers' Relief
Poor Department
$6,500 00
State Aid
1,500 00
Soldiers' Relief
3,800 00
Pensions
3,750 00
Military Aid
500 00
Education
Schools
$135,463 00
Libraries
.
5,800 00
Recreation
Administration, Care and Improvement of Parks . $7,500 00
Metropolitan Park Assessment 7,000 00
Cemetery
Cemetery
$3,000 00
Unclassified
Town Reports
$1,329 30
Memorial Day
300 00
Fourth of July Committee
500 00
500 00
1923]
TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS
35
Insurance Premiums
1,300 00
Trust Fund Commissioners
40 00
District Nurse
300 00
Firemen's Memorial
200 00
Heating and Lighting Hall on Pine Street
300 00
Painting and Repairing Pine Street Building
800 00
Reserve Fund
2,500 00
Armistice Day
200 00
Soldiers' Exemption
50 00
Interest
Temporary Loans
$ 9,500 00
General Debt
15,602 25
Sewer Bonds
9,602 50
Metropolitan Park
3,400 00
Municipal Debt
General Debt
$52,000 00
Sewer Bonds
17,150 00
Metropolitan Park
700 00
Agency
State Tax
$35,000 00
County Tax
30,000 00
State Enterprises
1,500 00
Essex County Sanatorium
3,797 61
Article 18-To see if the town will vote to appropriate the sum of nine hundred dollars to permit the School Committee to give "instruction in the use of English for adults unable to speak, read or write the same, and in the fundamental principles of government and other subjects adapted to fit for American citizenship," in accordance with the provisions of Sections 9 and 10 of Chapter 69 of the General Laws and Acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto.
We recommend that the town appropriate the sum of $900 to be expended by the School Committee for the purpose set forth in this article.
Article 19-To see if the town will vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to take by right of eminent domain for public school pur- poses, and appropriate money for the same, a certain parcel of land, with the buildings thereon, bounded and described as follows :-
Beginning at a point at the southeast corner of the Hadley School lot; thence northerly for a distance of about one hundred two feet; thence easterly for a distance of about sixty-nine feet; thence southerly for a distance of about one hundred two feet to the northerly side of Reding- ton street; thence westerly along said street to the point of beginning and also another parcel of land for public school purposes bounded and described as follows :-
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