USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Hamilton > Town of Hamilton Annual Report 1940 > Part 7
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1,382 00
Total tax levy
$132,930 11
Rate per thousand
$23 80
Number of horses
211
Number of cows
66
Number of neat cattle
76
Number of swine
3
Number of fowl
5,065
Number of sheep
193
Number of acres of land
8,914
Number of dwellings
867
Number of persons and corporations assessed :
Personal estate only
89
Personal and real estate
142
Real estate only
693
1940 RECAPITULATION
Total appropriations to be raised by taxation $165,527 37
189
ASSESSOR'S REPORT
Total appropriations taken from available funds : In 1940 4,100 00
State-Tax and assessments, 1940 estimates :
State tax
$13,120 00
State parks and reservations 151 89
State audit of Municipal Accounts
378 75
13,650 64
County-Tax and assessments, 1940 estimates :
County tax $7,784 70
Tuberculosis Hospital assessment 2,253 64
10,038 34
Overlay of current year
823 05
Gross amount to be raised.
$194,139 40
Estimated Receipts and Available Funds :
Income Tax
$12,94/3 83
Corporation Taxes
161 19
Gasoline Tax (Acts of 1939)
8,815 78
Motor Vehicle and Trailer Excise
7,200 00
Licenses
1,200 00
Fines
50 00
Grants and Gifts
7700 00
Special Assessments-Moth Private
1,375 00
General Government
50 00
Protection of Persons and Property
75 00
Highways 150 00
Charities (other than federal grants for aid to dependent children) 3,000 00
Old Age Assistance (other than fed- eral grants ) 4,410 00
Soldiers' Benefits 421 00
190
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
Schools 1,400 00
Libraries 5 00
Public Service Enterprises (such as Water Department, etc.) 6,500 00
Cemeteries (other than trust funds and sale of lots) 500 00
Interest : on Taxes and Assessments 800 00
Veterans' Exemptions 10 51
Public Utility 1939 Distribution 275 30
Total estimated receipts $50,072 61
Overestimates of previous year to be used as available funds :
State Parks
21 48
Veterans' Exemptions 15 20
Amounts to be taken from available funds :
Excess and deficiency 7,000 00
Chapter 500 Acts of 1938 4,100 00
Total estimated receipts and available funds
$61,209 29 Net amount to be raised by taxation on Polls and Property
$132,930. 11
Number of Polls 691 at $2.00 each $1,382 00
Total valuation at tax rate of $23.80 : Personal Property $544,911 00 $12,968 90
Real Estate $4,982 315 $118,579 10
Gain on account of fractional divisions of tax rate 11
Total Taxes Levied on Polls and Property $132,930 11
Not entering into the determination of the tax rate : Betterment and special assessinents : Moth 1,162 94
191
ASSESSOR'S REPORT
Total Amount of all Taxes on Polls and Property
and Assessments Committed to the Collector to
Date of Fixing Tax Rate $134,093 05
RECAPITULATION OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE EXCISE
Assessed in the Town of Hamilton for the year 1940 Number of cars 1118
Total valuation of cars
$261,700 00
Total Motor Vehicle Excise committed $8,446 06
To the Taxpayers of Hamilton:
The 1941 tax rate on motor vehicles is $36.80 per thousand. This is an increase of 40 cents per thousand over the 1940 rate.
When you sell or transfer a car a return of proof of sale must be made to the Assessors before any abatement can be made. This form can be obtained from the dealer.
Applications for abatement of any kind of tax will not be accepted by the Board unless filed within the time provided by law and on a form approved by the Commissioner of Corpora- tions and Taxation.
Within the year we expect there is to be an assessors' planning project of all real estate in Hamilton by the W. P. A. The Assessors trust that all real estate owners will cooperate.
PLEASE READ ALL PRINTING ON YOUR TAX BILL.
Respectfully submitted,
JESSE S. MANN ROBERT H. CHITTICK, JR. DONALD G. TRUSSELL
REPORT OF THE SURVEYOR OF HIGHWAYS
To the Citizens of the Town of Hamilton:
The following report of the Highway Department for the year ending December 31, 1940 is respectfully submitted.
After sufficient drainage was completed under a W. P. A. project in 1939 on Park Street, the Highway Department in 1940 rebuilt, oiled and sealed this street with a covering of pea-stone.
Railroad Avenue was also excavated, and after drainage was installed, was refilled to grade and oiled. A well-needed drain was completed on Hamilton Avenue. Other catch-basins and pipes received regular cleanings as per schedule.
The oil and tar roads as usual received the maximum atten- tion of the Highway schedule, with approximately 17,400 gal- lons of asphalt being applied to the streets and 2,545 gallons of cold-patch mixed with sand and pea-stone and used for repairing highways.
The gravel roads were scraped, dragged and patched. Dodge Street was also re-graveled and a portion of Cutler Road.
Under the Chapter 90 work, 6,200 gallons of asphalt and about 300 tons of pea-stone were used to re-surface the fol- lowing :
Essex Street from the Four Corners to the Wenham line, Woodbury Street from the Four Corners to the Wenham line, Main Street from Bridge Street to Cutler Road and a portion of Highland Street from Asbury Street to the Wenham line. There were also 2,000 gallons of shoulder oil used on Essex Street.
In closing, I wish to express my appreciation to the Town officials, all other departments, and to the Citizens of the Town for their fine cooperation.
Respectfully submitted, LELAND D. THOMPSON, Surveyor of Highways.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE TOWN PLANNING BOARD AND ZONING BY-LAWS
In accordance with Article 20 of the Annual Town Meeting held March 4, 1940, authorizing the appointment by the Mod- erator of a committee of five to investigate the advisability of establishing a Town Planning Board and preparing a zoning by-law, to report the results of their study at the next Annual Meeting, your Committee so appointed reports as follows :
Your Committee met for organization on April 13, 1940, and since that date have met from time to time, down to the time of submitting this report.
One of the first questions arising in the minds of the Com- mittee was whether the Town was of sufficient population and geographical size to warrant creating a Planning Board or adopting a zoning by-law, having in mind that it is optional under the statute for towns of less than 10,000 inhabitants to establish a Planning Board.
As shedding light on this point, at a meeting on April 13, 1940, of the Essex County planning and zoning conference of the State Planning Board at Hathorne it was learned from Elisabeth M. Herlihy, chairman of the Massachusetts State Planning Board, and from a number of officials present rep- resenting various committees that quite a number of their towns had a population approximately the same as Hamilton and some considerably less, the consensus of opinion being that the earlier a town started a board the better for the future of the town.
At one of its earlier meetings your Committee was favored with an exposition of some of the legal angles of the subject
194
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
by Mr. Frederick M. Dearborn, Jr., of Wenham, who has given much study to the details of the statute.
At a meeting held June 3, 1940, Miss Harriet Bradford of Ipswich, on invitation of the Committee, appeared before them and furnished an exhaustive and most instructive account of the procedure in her town in providing for a Planning Board and adopting a zoning by-law.
In addition your Committee has personally consulted the officials of the State Planning Board and has received its best advice, been furnished with all its available literature on the subject, and also received the printed regulations and zoning by-laws now in operation from a number of towns in the State, all of which is open to the voters for further information.
With this general preface of the ground covered by your Committee, perhaps a general conception of what planning boards and zoning by-laws really are and their origin may best be obtained by a short resume, first, as to planning boards :
By Chapter 494 of the Acts of 1913, "every city and town having a population of more than 10,000 was authorized and directed to create a board to be known as the Planning Board, whose duty it shall be to make careful studies of the resources, possibilities and needs of the city or town, particularly with respect to conditions which may be injurious to the public health, or otherwise injurious in and about rented dwellings, and to make plans for the development of the municipality with special reference to the proper housing of the people."
Chapter 283 of the Acts of 1914 amended the 1913 act to provide that towns having a population of less than 10,000 may create a planning board. In 1915 and 1919 other amend- ments were added and the original law as so amended re- mained the substantial law on the subject down to the enact- ment of Chapter 211 of 1936, which sought to clarify the vagueness, inconsistencies and conflicts of power of Section 70,
195
PLANNING BOARD COMMITTEE REPORT
Chapter 41, and prescribe functions for the planning boards through the addition to Chapter 41 of Section 4 (Improved Method of Municipal Planning), containing ten new sections, 81A-81J, inclusive.
In consequence of the legislation growing out of the enact- ment of said Chapter 211 mandatory duties are imposed upon planning boards to make and submit studies, to make an annual report and to take custody of records and plans of a planning board or a board of survey if existing, to make a master plan, and to pass on subdivision plats submitted to it for approval.
The board's optional powers are to employ experts and clerical and other assistants, to appoint a custodian of its plans and records, to prepare an official map, and to make recom- mendations on matters submitted to it by the Town.
It is particularly pointed out the subdivision plats control only concerns things of a public nature, viz., streets, parks, water mains and sewers, and no power is conferred to regulate the size of lots, while conversely zoning by-laws relate entirely to regulation of the uses to which private property may be put.
A master plan and official map referred to above may be distinguished as follows :
The master plan shows existing public ways and parks and all other public works and public improvements and also the location of such other ways, parks, works and improvements as seem desirable to the Planning Board. It is made and altered by the Planning Board on its own authority and it has no binding effect upon anyone.
The official map is drawn up under the direction of the Planning Board, but is not effective until approved by the Town Meeting. It relates to new public improvements other than ways and parks, and when originally adopted shows only existing ways and parks, proposed locations of public ways or parks can be added only after a hearing; and
196
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
no municipal utility or improvement may be constructed in a street unless it has been placed on the official map.
The Planning Board may be authorized by vote of the Town to act as Park Commissioners, provided a proper vote is previ- ously passed dispensing with the existing commissioners.
The establishment of a planning board does not impair the power of the Selectmen with respect to the laying out, widen- ing and construction of public ways. These municipal author- ities may lay out or widen ways as they have always done, without paying any attention to the Planning Board or the official map, and after they have laid out or widened a way in the usual manner, the Planning Board is bound to add the new way, or the wider lines, to the official map, whether they approve of it or not (s. 81D).
While the statute imposes certain mandatory duties upon planning boards it authorizes but does not require towns to appropriate funds for the necessary expenses of such boards, and if a town makes an inadequate appropriation, or no appro- priation at all, the mandatory provisions will not be carried out. The Planning Board cannot incur liability binding on the Town in excess of its appropriation (G. L. c. 44s. 31). If the Town fails to make appropriations sufficient to enable the Plan- ning Board to carry on its mandatory duties the requirements of the law will be violated, but there is no legal remedy. It will thus be seen that the powers of a planning board under Chapter 211 are still largely advisory and that the teeth in the statute are few and far betwen.
It may be said further, in so far as the expense of having a planning board is concerned, that your Committee was in- formed by the head of the State Department on planning boards that she knew of no town having a salaried member on its board.
With reference to the adoption of a zoning by-law, we ap-
197
PLANNING BOARD COMMITTEE REPORT
pend Chapter 601 of the Acts of 1920, Sec. 1, which provides that a town may by ordinance or by-law restrict buildings to be used for particular industries, trades, manufacturing or com- mercial purposes to specified parts of the city or town, or may exclude them from specified parts of the city or town, or may provide that such buildings, if situated in certain parts of the city or town, shall be subject to special regulations as to their construction and use. A city or town may also by ordinance or by-law provide that certain kinds of dwelling houses and tenement houses shall be restricted to specified parts of the city or town, or shall be excluded from specified parts of the city or town, or that dwelling houses or tenement houses shall conform to certain regulations in respect to their construction or use which do not apply to such buildings in other parts of the city or town. For the above purpose the city or town may be divided into districts or zones, and the construction and use of buildings in each district or zone may be regulated as above provided.
Section 2 of the same Act: The provisions of this act shall be carried out in such manner as will best promote the health, safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants, will lessen the danger from fire, will tend to improve and beautify the city or town, will harmonize with its natural development and will assist the carrying out of any schemes for municipal improvement put forth by any municipal planning board or board of survey or other like authority.
Section 7 of the same act provides the act shall not apply to existing structures nor to the existing use of any buildings, but it shall apply to any alteration of a building to provide for its use for a purpose or in a manner substantially different from the use to which it was put before the alteration. The above act was amended by Chapter 116 of the Acts of 1925, without substantial change.
198
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
After a careful study of the law and the existing conditions in Hamilton at the present time your Committee is of the opinion and so recommends that the time is not ripe for the adoption of a zoning by-law, but is of the opinion and so rec- ommends that it would be advisable for the Town to take the necessary steps for the establishment of a Planning Board and to bring the matter before the Town at the Annual Meeting in the form of an article which will appear in the warrant.
If the recommendations of your Committee are approved and the Town votes in favor of the article the effect would be that the actual election of a planning board would not take place until the Annual Town Meeting in March, 1942, giving a year for further study by the voters.
Your Committee might say that a much more voluminous report could have been furnished by going into additional phases of the law, but we have tried to give a general purview for lack of space. Your Committee has had no expenses and the one hundred dollars appropriated for the same will revert to the Town treasury.
Respectfully submitted,
FINLAY D. MACDONALD, Chairman, EVERETT F. HALEY, HAROLD A. DALEY, ROBERT B. WALSH, EDWARD J. REGAN, Secretary.
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS
The Board of Water Commissioners hereby submit their sixth annual report for the year ending December 31, 1940.
Your commissioners desire to call to your attention that this is the first full year of actual operation of the Water Depart- ment and it has proven a very successful one.
The Water Department is owned by the citizens of the town and it is one of the most valuable and essential assets. It should be remembered that it is a revenue producing depart- ment and in a very few years it will be self supporting.
It is also very important that the town should appropriate sufficient funds for the proper maintenance and operation of the system and to provide for its normal growth and a certain sum of money should be appropriated each year for the exten- sion of water mains on streets that are now not covered.
At the present time there are a number of residents who applied for water when the system was originally planned and they were given to believe that they would receive water when the system was being built, and in all fairness to these tax- payers a plan should be adopted that would permit them to receive water as soon as reasonably possible. This should be done before any extensions are made on streets that have been laid out since the system was built.
There have been a number of complaints about large water bills and to avoid this difficulty the commissioners installed straight reading water meters; these read gallons instead of cubic feet, so that it is very easy for the consumer to read the meter.
The water rates are printed on the back of your water bill
200
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
and by a ruling of the State Auditor are payable in advance. The minimum rate permits the consumption of 40,000 gallons annually for $16.00 or 10,000 gallons quarterly for $4.00, plus a meter rental of $1.00 per year. All water used in excess of 40,000 gallons per year is charged on the first bill of the following year.
In the future if more than 10,000 gallons are used any quarter, the excess charge will be on the next bill, so that it will be brought to the customer's attention that during the past quarter they have exceeded their minimum allowance and in that way the customer will be better able to control his yearly consumption of water.
During the year about one mile of main has been laid by the W. P. A., making a total of 14.5 miles in all, also 99 services were turned on and 30 new services installed, making a total of 238 families now using water. There are 447 ser- vices connected to the system, of which 209 have not been turned on.
There are 99 hydrants, including 7 on private property. 36,500,000 gallons of water were pumped during 1940. The total commitments for 1940 were $4,905.67.
During the year we lost the services of Lawrence E. Ander- son, who had served as chairman of this board for five years. It was due to his untiring efforts during this period that the town was fortunate enough to receive a Federal P. W. A. grant that permitted the building of our present water system. His loss has been deeply felt by your board and the town has lost a faithful servant. "Lonnie's" keen interest in town affairs and his knowledge and advice was highly valued by those with whom he served.
We take this opportunity to thank the town officials and
201
WATER COMMISSIONERS' REPORT
citizens for their cooperation and support during the past year and to express our appreciation to Malcolm P. Brown, super- intendent of the Water Department.
Respectfully submitted,
RICHARD H. SMITH, JR. Chairman HAROLD L. KNOWLTON
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH
To the citizens of the Town of Hamilton:
In submitting the report of the work of the Board of Health during the past year the number of diseases reported were as follows :
Measles 39 Chicken pox 3
Dog bite
4 Septic sore throat 1
Mumps 10
Scarlet fever 8
Lobar pneumonia 6
During the year 7 inspections of private water supply was taken on request and sent to the State Department for analysis.
A total of 16 dogs have been killed on our highways and buried by the Health Department.
In spite of an increase in the garbage and rubbish collec- tions totalling $178.00, the expenditures were less than the appropriation by $122.49.
In closing we wish to thank all those who have assisted this. Department in any way during the year.
Respectfully submitted,
LAWRENCE R. STONE EDWARD A. DeWITT JOHN H. PERKINS
REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURERS
To the Honorable Board of Selectmen:
Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit to you the annual report of the Department of Sealer of Weights and Measurers for the year ending December 31, 1940.
Adjusted Sealed
Not Con- sealed demned
Scales :
Platform over 5000
. .
2
. .
. .
Platform under 5000
. .
. .
. . . .
Platform 100 to 5000 lbs.
1
4
. . . .
Counter over 100
2
·
. .
Counter under 100
. .
2
. .
. .
Beam under 100
. .
1
. .
. .
Spring over 100
Spring under 100
1
10
1
1
Computing under 100
7
. .
. .
Person weigher (slot)
. .
1
. .
. .
Prescription
. .
1
. .
. .
Weight :
Avoirdupois
4
28
·
. .
Apothecary
. .
21
. .
. .
Volumetric Measures :
Liquid measures over 1 gal. . .
3
. . . .
Liquid measures under 1 gal. . .
19
. .
. .
·
1
. . . .
Beam over 100
. .
· ·
4
. .
.
204
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
Adjusted
Sealed
Not Con- sealed demned
Automatic liquid-measuring devices :
Gasoline pumps
2
15
. .
. .
Stops on pumps
. .
25
· ·
. .
Oil pumps
. .
1
7
. .
Tank truck meter systems
. .
5
. .
. .
Grease measuring devices
2
7
5
. .
Linear measures :
Yardsticks
1
·
.
Trial Weighings and Measurements of Commodities Sold or Put Up for Sale
Commodity
Tested
Correct
Under
Over
Bread
110
69
6
35
Butter
88
66
. .
22
Flour
44
27
7
10
Potatoes
22
22
. .
·
Lard
44
22
. .
22
Sugar
66
. .
. .
66
Dog Feed
22
. .
. .
22
Chick Feed
22
. .
. .
22
Totals
418
206
13
199
Peddlers' Licenses
8
Transient Vendors' Licenses
2
Ice Scales (checked 3)
3 OK
Respectfully submitted,
ERVING O. MAXWELL, Sealer.
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
To the Citizens of the Town of Hamilton:
The trustees of the Public Library feel that the year 1940 has been a successful and progressive one in their department.
Statistics in the librarian's report will show that the num- ber of volumes and periodicals added to the library is sizable and compares favorably with totals of other years. The books have been chosen with regard to the literary tastes of the citi- zens. The librarian, aided by the trustees, the Book Com- mittee and the welcome suggestions of the townspeople, has also attempted in selection to maintain a proper balance be- tween books of a diverting and instructive nature, the new books and the classics, fiction and non-fiction, books for young people and adults, as well as those exclusively for reference. Reader response has been gratifying if not exceptional, as judged by State Library statistics. An increase in the use of students' reference works has been noticeable. The trustees would urge even more general use of the town's very worthy library facilities.
For gifts of some thirty books, whose donors prefer to be anonymous, the trustees are deeply grateful.
Among accomplishments of the year may be mentioned the addition of a reading table and chairs for children at the South Hamilton branch. With suitable reading matter, this has proved a popular addition. At both library branches, shelves have been added to relieve somewhat the steadily increasing pressure for bookspace. The overcrowding problem becomes greater from year to year and gives rise to the hope that the
206
HAMILTON TOWN REPORT
future may hold a commodious, centrally-located, single unit library for Hamilton.
Minor repairs have been made at South Hamilton and the splendid old clock at the main branch has been renewed.
The trustees announce a ruling forbidding the withdrawal of standard works of reference from the library. In the past this practice has at times worked a hardship upon the reading public.
In conclusion the trustees are happy to use this opportunity to thank the librarians for devoted and willing service which frequently transcends consideration of hours and remuneration.
Respectfully submitted,
BEATRICE B. HOLMES KATHERINE P. STRIDE JOHN NEARY
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT
To the Trustees of the Public Library :
Herewith is presented the forty-eighth annual report.
The circulation of books for 1940 showed a loss of 427 from that of 1939; a loss at the Branch Library of 37, at the Main Library a loss of 390. Fiction is still first on the list, with a circulation of 16,411. Our circulation of periodicals is 142 less than that of last year.
We received gifts of books and magazines. The magazines were ones that we could not have purchased with our limited funds. All were first in their class of reading: Fortune, Har- per's, Atlantic Monthly, mining magazines, magazines of natu- ral history, a few copies of the Essex Institute publications. These gifts are greatly appreciated and the magazines are in constant circulation. We express our thanks to the friends who so kindly donated the same. We are constantly building up our Reference Section. A new set of the Brittannica Encyclo- pædia and a set of the Dictionary of American History was pur- chased this year and placed at the Branch Library. A new Lincoln Library, a one-volume reference book, was purchased for the Main Library.
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