What It Costs To Run The City Of Ann Arbor

WHAT IT COSTS TO RUN THE CITY OF ANN ARBOR

Ten Years' Expenditures Run Over Six Hundred Thousand Dollars

Tables Showing Expenditures in the General City Funds Exclusive of the Paving and Sewer Funds--Figures for Taxpayers to Ponder

City expenses are creeping up. The figures show it. What does it cost to run the city of Ann Arbor, outside of the sewers and pavements, which are largely paid for by taxes laid upon abutting property rather than the city at large.

Here are some figures as gathered from the reports of the various treasurers of the city for the past ten years. The sewer and paving funds are excluded from the computation as well as all transfers of funds, the amounts representing merely the annual cash paid out by the city in the ordinary funds in the last ten calendar years:

1893 . . . . $ 40,489.74

1894 . . . . 45,778.71

1895 . . . . 56,960.02

1896 . . . . 70,723.05

1897 . . . . 56,379.86

1898 . . . . 57,792.69

1899 . . . . 56,540.24

1900 . . . . 52,914.87

1901 . . . . 65,242.36

1902 . . . . 98,129.94

Total for ten years . . . . $600,951.48

These are the figures as shown by a computation from the treasurers' reports. As the Argus has previously shown, a deduction of $30,190.03 should be made from the treasurer's figures for 1902, for the amount wrongfully paid out of the street fund for the State street paving and which should be returned from the paving fund where it now is. This would cut the 1902 figures down to $67,939.91.

It will clearly be seen that even then the ordinary expenditures, exclusive of paving and sewers, have been much larger in the past two years than in any two previous years.

The cost of running the city may be better understood if we take each fund by itself and show how much was paid out of each fund in the past ten years. It is to be understood that occasionally money has been paid from one fund when it should rightfully have been paid from another, instances of which we may give later on, but the Argus has simply taken the monthly reports of the treasurer and added them to make its computation. To have gone into the matter further would have involved the tremendous labor of going through each order paid for ten years and finding out from testimony outside the record just what the order was really for. As it is the labor of finding 129 reports, some of which have disappeared from the files in this long period of time and must be found in the printed proceedings, of throwing out transfers of funds from expenditures and adding up each fund will be recognized as not light. In some years the contingent fund has been heavily drawn on for expenses which belonged to other funds, but this has not been traced. But here are the figures of 10 years expenses by funds:

CONTINGENT FUND.

1893 . . . . $14,013.61

1894 . . . . 12,779.51

1895 . . . . 17,870.32

1896 . . . . 15,144.72

1897 . . . . 14,771.61

1898 . . . . 17,912.00

1899 . . . . 18,226.90

1900 . . . . 21,688.83

1901 . . . . 26,545 82

1902 . . . . 23,087.71

STREET FUND.

1893 . . . . $1,951.48

1894 . . . . 5,569.29

1895 . . . . 11,265.33

1896 . . . . 20,581.78

1897 . . . . 15,194.99

1898 . . . . 13,241.87

1899 . . . . 14.325.06

1900 . . . . 11,858.41

1901 . . . . 9,721.69

1902 . . . . 48,242.71

As previously explained, $30,190.03 should be deducted from the treasurer's statement in 1902 for the State street paving. This would leave $18,052.71 paid out of this fund in 1902. This includes as well all the street work of the years the sidewalk grading and all the bridges and culverts, including the flood daniages. These bridges and culverts were properly payable from the bridge, culvert and crosswalk fund, but were actually paid from the street fund. These figures for 1902 show conclusively that the cost of repairing the flood damages was nothing near the $15,000 which has been claimed.

POLICE FUND.

1893 . . . . $2,068.71

1894 . . . . 2,697.45

1895 . . . . 3,430.51

1896 . . . . 3,365.76

1897 . . . . 2,925.10

1898 . . . . 3,398.56

1899 . . . . 3,661.36

1900 . . . . 3,406.88

1901 . . . . 3,661.81

1902 . . . . 4,003.55

POOR FUND.

1893 . . . . $1,951.98

!894 . . . . 2,501.86

1895 . . . . 2,409.90 

1896 . . . . 2,124.92

1897 . . . . 1,941.80

1898 . . . . 2,590.84

1899 . . . . 2,086.68

1900 . . . . 1,996.71

1901 . . . . 1,764.45

1902 . . . . 1,999.67

FIRE FUND.

1893 . . . . $6,617.92

1894 . . . . 6,363.37

1895 . . . . 6,760.10

1896 . . . . 7,136.76

1897 . . . . 7,351.16

1898 . . . . 7,442.05

1899 . . . . 8,230.93

1900 . . . . 8,459.73

1901 . . . . 7,651.97

1902 . . . . 8,886.05

WATER FUND.

1893 . . . . $5,510.76

1894 . . . . 5,735.55

1895 . . . . 5,765.75

1896 . . . . 6,015.00

1897 . . . . 6,115.00

1898 . . . . 6,195.00

1899 . . . . 7,129.66

1900 . . . . 3,349.10

1901 . . . . 6,697.13

1902 . . . . 7,011.99

In 1900 the sum of $3,245 was paid for water out of the contingent fund, and increases that fund by that figure, while causing a big drop In the water fund. The actual expense for water in 1900 was $6,594.10.

BRIDGE, CULYERT AND CROSSWALK FUND.

1893 . . . . $3,313.10

1894 . . . . 6,517.62

1895 . . . . 5,826.61

1896 . . . . 7,852.35

1897 . . . . 4,784.95

1898 . . . . 3,684.13

1899 . . . . 2,299.80

1900 . . . . 1,991.36

1901 . . . . 6,207.53

1902 . . . . 4,778.69

CEMETERY FUND.

1893 . . . . $118.35

1894 . . . . 117.06

1895 . . . . 151.50

1898 . . . . 195.54

1899 . . . . 279.85

1900 . . . . 106.37

1901 . . . . 73.32

1902 . . . . 103.07

DOG FUND.

1897 . . . . $55.25

1898 . . . . 12.50

1899 . . . . 46.00

1900 . . . . 57.00

1901 . . . . 22.64

1902 . . . . 16.50

The amount paid out to the school district or county treasurer is not included in these figures.

UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL BONDS.

1893 . . . . $3,720

1894 . . . . 3,600

1895 . . . . 3,480

1896 . . . . 3,360

1897 . . . . 3,240

1898 . . . . 3,120

CITY SITE.

1896 . . . . $5,000

STREET OR ALLEY OPENING.

1899 . . . . $300

1901 . . . . 2,896

The only other thing aside from paving or sewer not included in the above list of expenditures is the $17,000 paid for the Homeopathic hospital in 1899. It is believed, however, that some of the sewers expense has been included in the street fund. The contingent fund has at times been a favorite fund for chairmen of committees interested in other funds to dip into for payments of expenses properly chargeable to their funds.