The $40,000-a-Year Makeover of Seattle's Books — and the Treasurer Who Wouldn't Sign

OLYMPIA, July 19. — [Special.] — The policy of financing the city in the interest of all the taxpayers, as against financing in the interest of individuals, which was outlined in the Post-Intelligencer during the late municipal campaign, will result, City Treasurer McCauley says, in a saving of $40,000 interest a year. Before the end of the first year in office, and eventually if the city's money can be had as desired, it will wipe out entirely the great burden of interest on outstanding warrants. There were over $800,000 of those warrants when the administration came into office.

A hundred thousand dollars of the warrants has been called in, and on August 1st it is proposed to call in $40,000 or more. Indeed, it is the policy of the sinking fund commission to go ahead and redeem outstanding 6 per cent warrants as fast as the general fund in hand will warrant. Beside this, if, as is expected, it is decided in a day or two that the city has a right to issue $500,000 on funding warrants, this money will be secured on funding warrants. Warrants drawing 10 per cent interest will be called in, and funding warrants drawing only 5 per cent will be issued instead.

All the necessary papers have been prepared for bringing suit against ex-City Treasurer Boggs' bonds for all the money not turned over to the new city treasurer, and the suit will probably be brought next Tuesday. It could have been brought this week but for the fact that one of the collateral bonds issued as security by one of the banks having city deposits on hand contained a slight technical defect which, while deserving consideration, does not necessarily injure the validity of the bond.

While the cash not acknowledged by City Treasurer McCauley as having been turned over to him by his predecessor, ex-Treasurer Boggs, reaches the enormous total of some $190,000, still that is not the exact amount on which the city will sue. Mr. McCauley offered to certify that he had received the bulk of the $700,000 reported on hand when he came into office, but Boggs refused to accept such a receipt — he wanted a receipt for the full amount based upon his own books. In turn McCauley, who is by the charter supposed to have all city funds in cash on hand, refused to receipt for the amount which he considered fresh, being some $80,000.