City Hall's Fiscal Fantasy
A skeptical report on the retiring Walla Walla city council's claims of fiscal responsibility amidst rising taxes.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One of the members of the council at last night's meeting declared that he was proud of the record of the retiring council, which he said has retired $23,000 in warrant indebtedness and bonds; has made street improvements; has made additions to the water department and has otherwise been progressive and business-like. The Statesman and a majority of the voters who passed judgment at the recent election on the record made by the council during the last fiscal year do not agree with the councilman who thus puffs up his own record and that of his colleagues. According to the annual report of the city treasurer submitted to the council on July 7th, the net reduction in the warrant indebtedness of the city for the last fiscal year was only $3,384.51. When the taxpayer stops to consider that the tax rate for the last year was two mills higher than ever before and that the revenues of the city and of the water department were in the aggregate nearly fifty thousand dollars greater than they were two years ago, he will arrive at the conclusion that the reduction in the indebtedness of the city should have been far greater. The conclusion is irresistible that the retiring council has done the least with the most money of all councils in the history of Walla Walla. If any member takes great pride in its record, he is very lonesome in this sentiment.
“If any member takes great pride in its record, he is very lonesome in this sentiment. Very few will encroach upon his right to enjoy his pride all by himself.”
Debates over municipal tax levies versus actual infrastructure improvement remain a perennial point of tension in Walla Walla civic life. The gap between political rhetoric and the tangible state of public works, like the neglected East Alder street mentioned in the same paper, continues to define local discourse over a century later.
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