USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1874 > Part 3
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POLICE DEPARTMENT. Regular Police Force .*
REVILLO L. HINDS, Acting Deputy Chief of Police.
JOHN B. ANNETTS.
CHARLES KENNEDY.
GEORGE V. CHICK.
CHARLES HINCKLEY.
DANIEL HURLEY.
T. D. A. BRIGGS.
OTIS ATHERTON. FRANK E. HINDS.
FRANK E. TUCKER.
Special Policemen.
CHARLES W. ROSS.
CHARLES WASHBURN.
WALTER H. STEARNS, JUN.
GEORGE W. RIGBY.
W. C. EMERSON.
EDWARD MYRER.
Constables.
JOHN M. FISK.
CHARLES L. WILSON.
FRANK E. TUCKER.
JOSEPH HEUSTIS.
RODNEY M. LUCAS.
CHARLES COLE.
J. FRANK MAKEE. ENOCH HUSTON.
JOHN B. ANNETTS.t
WARD OFFICERS.
WARD ONE.
Warden, JOHN C. PARK; Clerk, EDWIN O. CHILDS ; Inspectors, EDWIN HOLMAN, SAMUEL E. DECKER, JOHN M. FISK.
WARD TWO.
Warden, EZRA S. FARNSWORTH; Clerk, AUGUSTUS WILLIAMS; Inspectors, F. G. RICHARDSON, D. S. PARKER, GEORGE EASTMAN.
WARD THREE.
Warden, JULIUS L. CLARKE ; Clerk, DAVID W. CHILD; Inspectors, J. W. ROBINSON, B. F. HOUGHTON, ARTHUR CARROLL.
WARD FOUR.
Warden, HENRY A. SNOW ; Clerk, WILLIAM I. GOODRICH ; Inspectors, JOSEPH F. WIGHT, GEORGE L. BOURNE, RUFUS MOULTON.
WARD FIVE.
Warden, WILLIAM E. CLARKE ; Clerk, CHARLES H. NOYES ; Inspectors, HORACE P. MANN, EUGENE FANNING, F. N. WOODWARD.
WARD SIX.
Warden, WILLIAM E. WEBSTER; Clerk, EDWARD H. MASON ; Inspectors, GEORGE O. SANBORN, JOSEPHI M. WHITE, BENJAMIN F. TYLER.
* Truant officers also.
t For Inquests.
WILLARD RAND.
ROBERT J. ARDRIE.
GEORGE J. CURTIS.
ENOCH HUSTON.
AUDITOR'S REPORT.
OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR OF ACCOUNTS, CITY HALL, March, 1875.
TO THE JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE.
GENTLEMEN :- The Auditor of Accounts was not required by any existing Ordinance or regulation to prepare or render a financial Report for the year 1874, that duty having been delegated to yourselves. Under Section 11, of Ordinance No. 4, it was pro- vided that the Committee should annually prepare and lay before the City Council, " a Statement of the Receipts and Expenditures of the preceding financial year." In the present instance, and by order of the City Council, the Statement is to be accompanied by some other documents usually appearing in the Au- ditors' Reports, as heretofore rendered under the Town administration.
By direction of the Committee, moreover, and for use in its compliance with the Ordinance above cited, it has herewith, in obedience to its own request, the most complete Statement of municipal finance ever placed before the citizens of Newton, in so far, as in scope and detail, it brings into one and the same ex- hibit important liabilities and other items usually omitted, or lost sight of, in the over-lay of unpaid expenses from one year to another. In the present and correct form of tabulation, the latter have been
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collated and classified as fully as possible. The Statement, when printed, will take the place of the usual Auditor's Report, and will be practically the first Auditor's Report of the City.
NEWTON AS A CITY.
Newton became a City on the fifth day of January, 1874. On that day its government was organized, and thereupon it assumed the prerogatives of a new and independent municipality. With filial regard for the memory of its old and honored Ancestor, the Town, the new City entered upon its career under auspices of more than ordinary interest. Inheriting in large measure the elements of present and pro- spective growth, pre-eminently favored in all its ma- terial, social, educational and other public interests, its success as a City organization became at once a matter of general and earnest desire.
Hence, the financial position of the City at the commencement of its history, is invested with impor- tant interest, both for present and future reference. It is therefore the special design of these pages to present a full and complete exhibit of its monetary affairs, extending in scope beyond the ordinary limit of Town and City though not of State Reports. Should it be thought that the Report herewith sub- mitted involves unnecessary detail, its only excuse is the requirement imposed, and especially the desire to communicate all information necessary to a per- fect understanding of municipal interests and condi- tions. For, until now, the City has had no knowl- edge of the amount of actual indebtedness transferred from the Town, and only general information of its
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own financial status. With the full development now made, it will become at least a matter of local pride and satisfaction, that honesty of purpose and integrity of management have distinguished the his- tory of both Town and City administration.
THE FINANCES OF 1874.
Under the conditions already indicated, the City Government commenced its first year with a large overlay of expenditure previously accrued and au- thorized, in addition to the outstanding loans of the Town. The City required nearly $462,000 to meet the financial necessities of 1874, including State and County taxes, expenditure on the City Hall, balances due on Town contracts, and the liquidation of a ma- turing Town loan of $20,000.
In providing the necessary ways and means for the year, every item of available assets was taken into consideration, including cash on hand at the commencement of the year, as well as miscellaneous assets, and a careful estimate of probable income from all other sources. To the aggregate of these was added an assessment of taxes intended to make up the deficit. But as explained elsewhere, only a small portion of the actual outstanding accounts and ma- turing claims against the Town, the amount of which was then unknown, was provided for in these esti- mates.
So closely were the resources, estimates and ap- propriations computed, that after cancelling the year obligations, only a very small margin could possibly remain. As the cash assets handed over by the Town to the City were properly applicable for the payment
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of accompanying demands, so the cash assets trans- mitted by the City Government of 1874 to that of 1875 are literally and equitably held for the liquida- tion of claims appertaining to 1874.
Under this system of finance, the City Govern- ment of 1875 enters upon its administration very much in the same monetary condition as that which greeted the advent of its predecessor. If continued, the treasury must necessarily be supplied with cash, at the beginning of every year, by means of tempo- rary loans, to meet immediate and pressing demands.
THE TOWN LIABILITIES.
First of all in the proper order of enumeration, is the statement of liabilities left by the Town to the City. Although the last Board of Selectmen made special effort to collect outstanding claims for cancel- lation prior to their retirement from office, yet, as is usually the case at the end of every municipal year, the amount remaining unrendered and unsettled proves to have been very much more than was sup- posed. While therefore the real debt of the Town was greatly in excess of the amount represented in the published statement for 1873, which included only that portion for which its promissory notes had been given, there is now a manifest propriety in eliminating the full result.
But it was through no fault of the retiring Board of Selectmen, that the City Government which suc- ceeded them accepted as correct the general belief that comparatively a very small amount of Town liability, other than loans, remained outstanding. Yet this belief had much to do in determining the finan-
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cial policy of the latter for 1874, because it resulted in a failure to provide adequate means for the settlement of unrendered claims and balances due on Town contracts, though necessary provision therefor was urgently suggested by the Mayor, in his first In- augural Address. The following is the result since ascertained : -
Outstanding Town Loans Dec. 31, 1873 · $407,000.00 Other Town Liabilities, absolute and contingent, Dec. 31,
1873 *
60,057 51
Liabilities transmitted to the City · $467,057 51
Balance remaining, Dec. 31, 1874 · 387,000 00
Cash reduction of Town Liabilities in 1874 · $80,057 51
But this statement does not cover the entire Town liabilities assumed by the City. There are still other outstanding claims, including several awards by the Town for land damages, for which no demand has yet been made. Of the aggregate amount of this additional indebtedness, the Auditor has thus far no positive information. It should be remembered, therefore, that the reduction of Town liabilities ($80,- 057.51) as already shown, represents only the amount paid in cash in 1874.
In order that tax-payers and others might have the fullest information of the real liabilities assumed by the City at its organization, it seemed neces- sary and right to consider in this connection the balances then due, or overdue, and accruing, on three or four Town contracts, finished and unfinished at the close of 1873. These were existing liabilities of a two-fold character, the one absolute, the other con- tingent. Several thousand dollars had already ac-
* See pages 26 and 29 of this Report.
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crued on these contracts, and was only awaiting the organization of the City Government for payment This was an absolute liability. The balances be- coming due, about as much more in amount, ($10, 913.44) were a contingent liability, but were con- stantly and rapidly becoming absolute by maturity, nearly the entire amount having been certified and paid within the first few weeks of the City adminis- tration. But whether absolute or contingent, both were specific and as binding as any note or other obligation transmitted from the Town, the City hav- ing no power to annul or ignore them, except for breach of conditions. The latter had thus only to pay the balance of an expenditure in which it had no voice, and which was no part of its own financial regime. Hence the equity of a proper classification of liabilities, showing what were incurred and authorized under Town, and what under City administration. The information now given is therefore due to every citizen of Newton.
PERMANENT DEBT OF THE CITY.
Of the liabilities ($467,057.51) transferred to the City, as already stated, the existing loans were treated as a permanent debt by the first City Gov- ernment. In making up its estimates and appropri- ations for the year, these loans were wholly ex- empted from consideration, it being the expressed policy of the Joint Standing Committee on Finance, whose action the City Council indorsed, that other provision should be made for their payment than by appropriation from ordinary resources. The con- tinuance of this debt by extension, or by funding,
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was unanimously approved, the recently initiated measures looking to the latter result being in accord- ance therewith. The following is a summary state- ment of this debt at the beginning and close of the year : -
Outstanding Town Loans, Jan. 5, 1874 $407,000 00
Balance remaining, Dec. 31, 1874 * 387,000 00
Cash reduction in 1874
$20,000 00
The omission to provide by extension or other- wise, for the maturing portion ($20,000) of this debt, compelled its payment from any moneys in the treasury available therefor, the reduction thus made being the same as stated in the Annual Address of His Honor, the Mayor. The unexpended balance of the appropriation of 1873 for such liquidation was more than sufficient, but the means had to be drawn from the resources of 1874. Of the remain- ing $387,000 of the Town loans, $47,000 more, ma- turing in 1875, will be temporarily extended; but this amount, with any additions from temporary loans of 1875 now existing, may be funded in con- nection with any portion of the original debt.
With rates of taxation lower than the average for the State, the latter nearly one and six-tenths against one and three-tenths per cent. for Newton on the valuation of last year (or $15.51 against $13 on a $1,000, being more than 16} per cent. in favor of Newton), and even the high rate for 1873 being less than the average for 1874, the debt is also comparatively very small, only a mere fraction over one and a quarter per cent. of the tax- able valuation of the City. Should any considerable
* For descriptive tabulation, see p. 39.
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portion be funded, as it undoubtedly may be on very favorable terms, the necessity of negotiating frequent loans for the extension of maturing instal- ments would be obviated. If no other measures should be adopted for the final liquidation of the whole, as it now stands, a sinking fund properly ap- portioned would provide ample ways and means. About $11,000 annually set apart from any surplus funds remaining in the treasury, at the end of the year, would be sufficient, with ordinary accumula- tion for twenty years, for the extinguishment of the entire debt without recourse to any direct taxation.
TEMPORARY LOANS OF 1874.
The City Government of 1874 negotiated several temporary loans in anticipation of income from taxes and other sources, for the purpose of meeting current expenses. The amount for which the City's notes were thus given was $195,000. These were all paid ; but the Treasurer, by himself, was carry- ing, as a temporary advance, nearly $30,000 for the City, there being in his hands a large excess of cash assets especially provided therefor, and from which speedy reimbursement was expected, as in many previous instances of like character.
Temporary advances volunteered by that officer have been of frequent occurrence, sometimes even in much larger amounts, for the purpose of meeting the wants of the treasury till supplied from other sources. In this instance the amount was originally $50,000, but the Treasurer had been reimbursed by cash accumulated in his hands amounting to $20,- 088.01. The balance, $29,911.99, for which he held neither note nor other evidence of indebtedness from
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the City, is fully considered in the statement of floating liabilities, where it properly and only belongs, and to which attention is particularly invited. *
NET LIABILITIES - SUMMARY STATEMENT.
This exhibit could not have been given at the close of the year, because a large and unknown amount of miscellaneous claims had not been ren- dered for payment. The net results are now cited for the first time ; and though here in summary form, their details are shown on a subsequent page.
It has been customary here, as in many other Cities and Towns, to submit comparative statements of net liabilities, so called, in distinction from actual outstanding loans, though including the latter as an integral element. Such statements have generally been accepted as correct, and doubtless they have been correct so far as controlled by their incomplete terms of computation or estimate. But it is a mis- taken belief that the real liabilities of town or city, are always fully or truly represented in any ex- hibit predicated solely upon deductions from actual payments and remaining assets; or, in other words, an exhibit which includes only outstanding loans and present assets, and excludes expenditure already in- curred but unpaid. Results based upon such prem- ises are simply arbitrary and deceptive. They amount to little more than estimates, though their · approximation may occasionally prove sufficient for some general purposes.
The circumstances under which this Report is submitted, and the prevailing desire for the fullest presentation of financial statistics and results, render
* See Net Assets and Liabilities, page 42.
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the usual formula inadmissible, because in itself in- complete and unsatisfactory, whether its measure of liability be increased or reduced. The ordinary statement of assets and liabilities for almost any previous year, if extended to the limit of a proper scope, would furnish a pertinent illustration.
Take as an example the statement of the Town debt, so called, for 1873. Though made by the pres- ent Auditor in conformity with long established precedent, and quite correct under its limited terms of computation, yet its result was apparent rather than real. With the complete data appertaining to that year, as eliminated for the present Report, the net liabilities of the Town, absolute and contingent, would have been stated at $380,178.70 * instead of $324,304.58. The larger amount includes unpaid bills coming over for settlement in 1874, and also some balances due and becoming due on Town contracts nearly completed, as heretofore explained. The subjoined statement is a summary of the whole : -
Town Liabilities.
Gross Liabilities of the Town, Dec. 31, 1873,
$467,057 51
Productive Assets reported,
$86,878 81
Less shrinkage,
1,810 17 85,068 64
Net Liabilities of the Town,
$381,988 87
* The difference between this sum and that given in the accompanying tabulation arises from the shrinkage of assets received from the Town.
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City Liabilities .*
Permanent Debt, or outstanding Town Notes, Dec. 31, 1874, $387,000 00 Amount advanced by Treasurer in anticipa- tion of receipts, $29,911 99
Unsettled Accounts, Dec. 31, 1874,
45,499 43
Temporary or Floating Liabilities,
75,411 42
Total,
$462,411 42
Productive Assets,
63,791 42
Net Liabilities of the City, Dec. 31, 1874,
$398,620 00
Net Liabilities of the Town, Dec. 31, 1873, 381,988 87
Apparent Increase of Floating Liabilities in 1874,
$16,631 13
In addition to the productive assets above stated for 1874, nearly or quite $5,000 more will probably be real- ized, so that the apparent net increase of floating liabilities at the close of the year would be less than
$12,000 00
Even this could not have existed, had not the dis- count on taxes deprived the City of a gain of $12,112.92 in 1874. Similar results have arisen in previous years, thus showing that no practical advantage is derived from such discount.
When it is considered that the City Government was unexpectedly called upon to liquidate upwards of $80,000 of liabilities which it did not authorize, and for which no sufficient provision had been made ; besides paying nearly $20,000 more for remodelling the City Hall and for other purposes not included in the estimates for the year, - when these facts are considered, in addition to the loss by discount on taxes, it may be deemed fortunate that there had not been some material increase of indebtedness, be- yond that of a mere transient or comparatively tri- fling amount in the floating obligations of the City.
* See detailed statements on pages 39 and 42.
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CITY EXPENSES.
The following aggregate analyses of City expenses for 1874 become also a matter of public interest, especially as showing the proportions properly be- longing to the year, as far as known at the rendering of this Report, whether paid during the year, or coming over for payment in 1875. The detailed statement of appropriations and amounts charged thereto, whether accrued in 1874 or previously, appears in its proper place with other tabulations hereafter given.
Appropriations.
Aggregate of General Appropriations for 1874,
$376,000 00
Aggregate of Special Appropriations for 1874, 18,205 40
Total,
$394,205 40
Net Expenses of 1874, paid and unpaid :
Amount chargeable to General Appropria- tions,
$359,999 66
Amount chargeable to Special Appropria- tions,
17,848 99 377,848 65
Balance of Appropriations unexpended,
$16,356 75
This is properly the statement of City expenses incurred or authorized in 1874, as far as ascertained, exclusive of State and County taxes otherwise pro- vided for and paid ; and does not include any of the $80,057.51 paid in reduction of Town liabilities.
Numerous other and similar illustrations of special interest to citizens and tax-payers might be cited, but two or three may suffice. In order to save expense in grading, and for the better convenience of the City, the estimate for concrete side-walks and crossings for 1874, previously provided for by special
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appropriations, was covered by the appropriation for the Highway Department, though no part of the expenditure for highway repairs and improvements. The following is the analysis under this head : -
Highway Department,
Net payments in 1874, including amount from 1873, Expenses of 1874, payable in 1875,
$121,408 93 23,244 02
Total,
$144,652 95
Less payments for 1873,
20,506 70
Amount properly chargeable to 1874,
$124,146 25
Classification.
Highway repairs and improvements,
$107,931 72
Concrete walks and crossings,
16,214 53
Total,
$124,146 25
The expenditure on highway account is subject to a considerable reduction from receipts for curb- stone, the cost of which was charged to the appro- priation. With this reduction, the actual net expen- diture on highways, as authorized by the Joint Standing Committee of 1874, paid and unpaid, Dec. 31, will vary but a fraction from $105,332.
The same rule of analysis, applied to the expendi- tures of the Fire Department, develop a similar result, by which it appears that the actual running expenses of the Department for 1874 were $21,- 830.06. This does not include new hose carriages, tender wagon, hose, and reservoirs, which, though no part of the expenses of maintenance, were charged to the appropriation, but carried to the Public Prop- perty Account, where they have been properly valued. But in the amount of running expenses for
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1874, are charged the pay and expenses of two new Companies added to the Department since its trans- fer to the City.
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
The transactions of the Treasury Department are exhibited in the succeeding tabulation, commencing with the amount of cash received from the Town, and showing the receipts and payments under the city organization, which began, Jan. 5, 1874. The account is rendered in accordance with Section No. 8, of Ordinance No. 4, requiring the City Treasurer to lay before the City Council, annually, a statement of the condition of the City Treasury, and of all moneys received and paid on account. The Treas- urer's official statement gives the following results : -
CITY TREASURER'S ACCOUNT .*
THE CITY OF NEWTON IN ACCOUNT WITH EDWARD J. COLLINS,
Treasurer and Collector.
Receipts.
Balance received from Town, Dec. 31, 1873, $13,463 36
Amount received during the year, 647,632 25
Making a total of $661,095 61
This sum was received from the following
sources, viz. : -
Loan from the New England Trust Co., $100,000 00
66 Boston Five Cents Saving Bank, 50,000 00
66 Blake Bros. & Co., 25,000 00
66 66 National Bank Commonwealth, 20,000 00
State Treasurer, National Bank Tax, 17,369 49
Amount carried forward, $212,369 49
* See itemized Account on subsequent pages of this Report.
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Amount brought forward,
$212,369 49
State Treasurer, Corporation Tax, '74,
16,932 63
66 Bal. 66 3,577 72
'73,
Sale of Eldredge Street property,
4,082 61
Newton Nat. Bank, interest on deposits,
1,451 79
State Treasurer, State Aid for 1873,
1,400 00
Dividends on Insurance premiums,
775 18
Income of School-Fund,
564 96
State Treasurer, Rent of Armory,
450 00
Tax Non-resident Pupils,
440 46
Warden of Almshouse, Sale of Produce, &c.,
361 30
Cities and Towns, for support of Poor,
268 75
Cash reimbursed on Highway Account,
369 50
Sale of Highway Horses, 325 00
Rent of old Engine House, Ward One,
177 50
Rent of City Hall,
168 00
Rent of School-house Hall, Ward Six,
30 00
County Treasurer, Dog-tax,
472 77
Taxes of 1871, 72 65
Taxes of 1872,
359 63
Taxes of 1873,
61,319 31
Taxes of 1874,
311,503 96
Record and other Fees,
247 05
Amount advanced by Treasurer for current expenses in anticipation of Receipts,
29,911 99
Balance from Town,
13,463 36
Total,
$661,095 61
Payments.
The sums disbursed during the same period were on the following Accounts : -
General Appropriation for Schools,
$76,442 13
Drawing Schools,
1,362 40
Evening Schools,
252 35
Conveyance of Pupils,
1,000 00
Text Books,
299 83
Incidentals for Schools,
17,999 19
Total for Educational Department,
$97,355 90
Highways, including Contracts of 1873,
$120,730 93
Fire Department,
25,912 00
-
Amounts carried forward, '$243,998 83 $661,095 61
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Amounts brought forward,
$243,998 83 $661,095 61
Lighting Streets,
20,608 37
Police Department,
11,084 83
Support of Poor out of Almshouse,
3,835 51
Almshouse Expenses,
3,450 23
Almshouse Repairs,
51 70
Printing, &c.,
3,375 60
Insurance,
3,328 26
State Aid,
1,229 50
City Stables,
16,848 06
Gravel Lands,
7,084 91
Horses and Carts,
11,050 00
City Hall Building, remodelling, &c.,
12,023 80
City Hall, furnishing,
1,325 19
City Hall, ordinary Expenses,
1,273 17
Memorial Day,
500 00
Town Loan, Permanent Debt,
20,000 00
City Loans, Temporary,
195,000 00
Interest on outstanding Loans,
29,966 52
Military Department,
896 05
Engine House, Steamer No. 3,
17,953 93
Salaries,
9,213 00
Collection of Taxes,
417 16
Contingent Expenses,
5,725 88
State Tax,
23,540 00
County Tax,
16,108 32
Bank Tax,
1,206 79
Total, $661,095 61
EDWARD J. COLLINS, Treasurer and Collector.
APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES.
The annexed summary statements of general and special appropriations, and expenditures chargeable thereto, are presented in their usual form. In all cases in which an excess of expenditure over an appropriation appears, such excess was met by trans- fer from the unexpended balances of other appro- priations, as authorized by concurrent order of the
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