A Warning on Municipal Frenzied Finance

To the Editor of the Times: On April 15 there will be a special election held in this city, when the taxpayers will be called upon to vote on three-quarters of a million dollars for the Metropolitan Park board. The writer has no grievance against any member of the park board; he only knows some of them by sight, and a discussion of municipal frenzied finance will not descend to personalities. The writer believes in improvements, clean, well-paved streets, and all such evidences of civilization, having headed no less than seven petitions to have one thoroughfare improved in this city; but in our zeal for improvements there is danger of reaching too far. Many of our working people, who own their own homes, are already staggering under the load of indebtedness incurred in the improvement of some of our streets. Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars added to the amount already owed by the city will total dangerously near the ten-million mark. Then, the interest on this three-quarters of a million, at 5 per cent, will amount to $37,500 annually; this added to the park tax levy of one and one-half mills will amount to $116,172.32. The city's assessed valuation is now $52,448,843, on which the one and one-half mill levy of the park board will amount to $78,673. The best work ever done in the parks was in bygone years, when the city park board had not one-fourth of this immense sum. With nearly $80,000 at its disposal, the city could build boulevards all around the bay. The interest on these park bonds will amount to millions before they are paid. I submit herewith a summary of the total indebtedness of Tacoma, in order that our citizens may have an opportunity of knowing what they are 'up against' before it is too late.