City Hall Battles County Over School Warrant Funds
Tacoma officials move to secure $16,000 in school warrant payments, challenging the County Treasurer's refusal to honor the debt.
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.
At 10 o'clock this morning the sinking fund commission, which is composed of Mayor Wright, President of the City Council E. A. Roice, City Controller L. Q. Jackson and City Treasurer D. Atkins, held a meeting in the controller's office and discussed the condition of the city's finances. The attention of the commission was called to the conduct of County Treasurer Reed, who refuses to honor the $16,000 warrant which City Treasurer Atkins has presented for payment at the county treasurer's office for the past two weeks. The commission, after discussing the situation thoroughly, decided to refer the matter to the city attorney, O. G. Ellis. There is about $20,000 in the sinking fund awaiting investment, and if the city could collect the $16,000 school warrant and add the proceeds to the fund, the city would have a neat sum to invest in bonds.
“The attention of the commission was called to the conduct of County Treasurer Reed, who refuses to honor the $16,000 warrant.”
This fiscal dispute illustrates the perpetual tug-of-war over tax revenue and intergovernmental funding that characterizes modern city-county relations. Tacoma's 1904 struggle to secure school funding via warrants mirrors modern concerns over the equitable distribution of local tax dollars.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.