To Bond City For 40,000

TO BOND CITY FOR $40,000

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Pay for Storm Sewers and Flood Damages

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THE MAYOR'S SCHEME

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To Make Up the Overdraft Which Is Now Existing In City Treasury.

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The council decided Monday night to ask the legislature to pass an enabling act so that Ann Arbor might bond for $40.000 to return to the general funds of the city $25,000 expended for storm sewers and $15,000 expended for culverts destroyed by last summer's flood. This action was taken with the recommendation of Mayor Copeland, who sent the following message to the council:
Mayor's Office.
Ann Arbor, Mich., Dec. 1, 1902.
To the Honorable the Common Council: Gentlemen - It is known to most of our citizens that for several years the city has been carrying a financial overdraft. In spite of frequent explanation of its origin the popular idea today is that this state of things came from reckless expenditure of the public funds.  At the risk of tiring your honorable body, familiar with the history of this overdraft, I feel it is due our constituents to repeat the history of it's creation.
In 1808 the Common Council decided to make a very necessary public improvement, namely the construction of a system of surface sewers. The only mistake in that transaction was the failure to provide a means of paying for this work, either by general tax, bonding or assessement against the property directly benefited. There was nothing left for the council to do but to pay for this improvement from the current expense fund. It was charged against the sewer account.
From that day to this the officials of the city have had to face a very large deficit and overdraft in this fund representing the cost of the storm and surface sewers.
Last July the city suffered the effets of a serious flood. Eleven culverts were totally or partially destroyed. Our citizens rejected a proposition to raise a large sum of money to replace this loss, saying to the city officials: "Do the work, present the bill and we will furnish the money to pay it."
That work has been done, carefully and economically and its total cost is about fifteen thousand dollars.
The two items of expense, that for the storm sewers and the other for the culverts, each in reality a part of the surface sewer system of our city, amount to forty thousand dollars. This sum covers the indebtedness of the municipality and represents the overdraft which will be left after paying the legitimate and necessary expenses of the fiscal year. It does not include one penny of reckless expenditure and is in no sense due to past or present extravagance of city officials. It came from money spent flor special purposes, not provided for by charter or general law. It was expended for a special and necessary public improvement, and the benefits derived from it will not be enjoyed by this generation alone.

This is the history of the overdraft. What of the future?
Up to this time our banks have been most generous and accommodating. They have carried the overdraft from year to year and have been patient in our shortcomings. The bank officials have served notice upon the city that after February 1st the overdraft must be wiped out of existence. They felt that they are not justified in longer carrying it They are numbered among our very best citizens and have at heart only the interests of our city, but the banking laws of the state make it imperative upon them to protect the funds entrusted to their care.
In this emergency some definite action must be taken by your honorable body to provide a means of wiping out the overdraft. Our people have very clearly indicated how they feel about a special tax. However, in spite of this, if the overdraft were the result of extravagance in current expense, I should favor asking the people to vote funds to care for it and do away with our interest account. But, the entire debt is due to the expenditure of money for improvements which are permanent and which will be enjoyed by the next generation. Therefore, I recommend that the city attorney be instructed to prepare an enabling act, permitting the city of Ann Arbor to issue bonds in the sum of forty thousand dollars, payable in ten annual installments, at a rate of interest not to exceed four per cent; further, that this will be presented to the legislature at the earliest possible moment and our representatives be urged to place it on its immediate passage. When this is done, let the bonds be placed and the money used to liquidate this ancient and honorable debt.
Respectfully,
R.S. COPELAND, Mayor