Page images
PDF
EPUB

(Revision, p. 1150,) should not be adopted. It provides that "all real and personal estate within this State, whether owned by individuals or by corporations, shall be liable to taxation at the full and actual value thereof." This would prevent the railroads from availing themselves of the violation of duty by local assessors, in not assessing individuals the full value of their property. What further legislation, if any, may be necessary, will be more clearly ascertainable after the decision of the Supreme Court.

TAXES ON RAILROADS FOR LOCAL PURPOSES.

The railroad corporations complain of the local tax as an unjust burden. Is it such? The railroad and canal companies of the State own one-fifth of all the real and personal property in the State according to the returns made by the State Board compared with the list of ratables. The act provides that the State tax and the local tax imposed by the State Board shall together never exceed a certain percentage. The act also provides that the main stem of a railroad and the water-ways of a canal shall not be assessed for local purposes. The valuation of these, according to the State Board, is $81,108,600, or more than one-ninth of the assessed valuation of all the tangible property in the State. Railroads are no longer an experiment. They are, if honestly managed, paying investments. Under general laws no right of private property is sacred against their encroachment. The dwellings of the living and the burial places of the dead are alike subject to their exercise of the right of eminent domain. The effect of this discrimination in favor of the railroads with reference to local taxes can be illustrated by taking a dwelling of a citizen in Jersey City, the terminus of all the great railroads of the State, and showing how it is affected by these discriminations. The assessors of that city for the present year returned the ratables as $66,599,242.00. Upon this amount a tax is imposed for city, county and school purposes amounting to $1,599,002.00, or $256,735.00 more than the entire amount assessed upon all the railroads and canals of the State (including their franchises) for both State and local purposes. The valuation of all the railroads and canal property, including franchises, amounts to $192,964,385. The value of railroad and canal property in Jersey City, exclusive of main stems and water-ways and personal property, is $21,626,714.

This amount is distributed as follows:

Central Railroad of New Jersey..

Jersey City and Bergen Railroad..

Long Dock Company......

Morris Canal and Banking Company.

$4,950,722 247,507 3,907,793

1,555,020

[blocks in formation]

5,341

19,066

115,020

New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad...
Northern Railroad of New Jersey......
Paterson and Hudson River Railroad...

United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company....

Total......

4,891,046

$21,626,714

A fair apportionment for Jersey City of the valuation of main stems and water-ways within that city would increase this amount. to over $30,000,000. Add $30,000,000 to the ratables of Jersey City and you would have nearly $97,000,000 of property for taxation instead of about $67,000,000. Making all proper allowances, it would make a reduction of about one per cent. in the tax rate in that city; this rate is now $2.92 per $100. In other words, a man who owned a house in that city valued at ten thousand dollars, and who now pays two hundred and ninety-two dollars tax, would pay one hundred dollars less, provided the railroad companies of the State were taxed the same as individuals.

Another illustration may be taken from the farming lands of the State. South Brunswick township, in Middlesex county, is on the main line of the Pennsylvania road. The total amount of ratables, exclusive of property used for railroad purposes, is $1,546,930. The tax rate in this township is $1.22 per hundred dollars. The amount of property used for railroad purposes in said township is $815,276, which, added to the ratables, would amount to $2,363,206. If the railroad property was added to the ratables the tax rate would be about seventy-nine cents per hundred dollars. This would make a difference to the farmer of $4.30 of tax on every $1,000 of property he owned. The total local tax allowed this township by the State Board is $1,506.26. If the companies paid the local rate of $1.22 per one hundred dollars on their property, they would pay $9,946.36.

TAX ON MISCELLANEOUS CORPORATIONS.

The taxes levied in 1884 upon miscellaneous corporations underthe act of April 18th, 1884, (L. 1884, p. 232,) were $195,846.99. Of this amount $98,278.67 was paid in 1884 and $22,139.10 in the fiscal year of 1885, leaving due $75,429.22 of the tax for 1884 under that act. All these delinquent taxes are in the hands of the AttorneyGeneral for collection. A few of them have been paid, but the great mass are upon corporations that have no property whatever. The tax.

levied under this act for 1885 amounts to $235,769.40. Of this sum $116,044.52 was paid in the fiscal year ending October 31st, 1885. Between that date and December 30th, 1885, $903.18 of this tax has been paid, leaving due on the tax of 1885, $118,821.70, or a deficit of taxes under this act for the years 1884 and 1885 of $194,250.92. It is not probable that over thirty to forty thousand dollars of this amount can be collected. This act will not yield annually over $130,000. The amount could be increased, if deemed necessary, by extending the operation of the act to other corporations, or increasing the amounts now paid thereunder.

SINKING FUND.

The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund report that the assets of fund amount to $903,628.04. Of this amount $342,834.90 is represented by the real estate which the Commissioners have been obliged to take in satisfaction of mortgages held thereon. The actual value of this real estate can only be ascertained by a sale of the property.

They paid $94,696 of interest on the public debt during the past fiscal year. No portion of the principal of this debt fell due during the year. The unpaid war bonds, the only public debt of the State, on October 31st, 1885, amounted to $1,591,300.

The Treasurer's report shows the debt to be $5,000 more than this amount, because he is carrying, as part of the debt, $5,000 of coupon bonds which were canceled by the Sinking Fund Commissioners February 27th, 1884, the Commissioners having purchased for the State these bonds, which fall due January 1st, 1887. They are destroyed as bonds and ought not to be included in the public debt.

The Commissioners recommend that the Legislature provide for the appointment of a committee to examine yearly their books, vouchers and proceedings, and report thereon.

SCHOOL FUND.

The School Fund amounts to $3,494,761.89.

It consists of $1,222,416.89 of Riparian leases and $2,272,345 of United States bonds, mortgages and other securities.

Its income during the past fiscal year was $193,096.31.

SCHOOLS.

The sum of $2,449,015.61 was expended for public schools during the past fiscal year-an increase of $35,139.51 over the amount expended in the previous year by the State and localities for this purpose.

The total amount of the district and city taxes for the building and repairing of school houses was $568,388.68, showing an increase over the previous year of $43,843.54. This indicates an increased desire on the part of localities to provide school accommodations in some degree commensurate with the increased population. The increase is principally in cities where school accommodations are insufficient.

The school property of the State is valued at $6,832,926, showing an increase over the valuation of the previous year of $482,119.

The number of children between five and eighteen years of age, as shown by the school census, is 366,317, an increase of 10,256 over the previous year. The number of children in attendance at the schools during the past school year was 222,317, an increase of 5,525. The number of male teachers is 818, and of female teachers 2,998.

The average monthly salary of male teachers is $63.56, and of female teachers $36.30.

The report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction furnishes in detail and with accuracy the operations of our school system for the past year, which will be found to compare favorably with that of any other State.

NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS.

At the Normal School there were enrolled during the school year ending June, 1885, 228 pupils, of whom 30 were males and 198 females. The average attendance was 1821. Eighteen graduated from the advance course and five from the elementary course—in all 27, of whom 22 were females.

In the Model School, for the same period, there were enrolled 485 pupils, with an average attendance of 402. Five-sixths of the pupils of the Normal School do not graduate, but many who enjoy its privileges for a shorter period are subsequently employed in the State as teachers.

The amount expended for these schools during the year was $34,004.29. The State appropriates annually $15,000 for maintenance and $5,000 for scholarships or other school purposes. The school received for tuition last year from scholars $16,673.31.

The above expenditures do not include the money expended for repairs to buildings and heating apparatus, for which the sum of $1,390.30 was paid by the State during the past year.

SCHOOL FOR DEAF-MUTES.

The Legislature passed an act, which was approved March 26th, 1885, requiring the trustees to submit a quarterly report to the Governor, showing the number of pupils taught and maintained in the school during each quarter and an estimate of the money required.

Upon the approval of the Governor, this sum was to be paid for the maintenance of the institution, provided it did not exceed seventy dollars per quarter for each pupil. Five thousand dollars was also appropriated for needed improvements. The total expenditures for repairs to buildings, furniture, etc., amount to $4,054.79, and for maintenance and other expenses, $26,048.31, making a total of $30,103.10.

The number of pupils in attendance in the school during the year has been 119, of whom 67 were males and 52 females. The trustees ask for a further appropriation of $5,000 for repairs to the buildings, improvement of the grounds and the purchase of furniture, and state their reasons therefor fully in their report.

BLIND AND FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN.

The blind and feeble-minded children of the State are supported and instructed in institutions in other States. During the year there were 76 feeble-minded and 39 blind children so supported, at an expense to the State for the former of $18,966.26, and for the latter of $10,176.83.

STATE REFORM SCHOOL FOR BOYS.

This institution had 425 inmates during the year ending October 31st, 1885. The number remaining at the end of the year was 269 and the average attendance was 277.59, a decrease of 46 in the average attendance. The amount of money received from the State for maintenance, and under special appropriations, was $46,494.04, and from the sale of farm produce and the labor of the inmates, $9,815.20, making a total of $59,686.61.

The total expenditures of the institution, including $4,456.67 for the completion of the new granary, was $59,041.73.

The Trustees report that the plan of dividing the inmates into families has produced most excellent results, and suggests that the introduction of instruction in mechanical arts would be of great service to the inmates in after-life.

The Trustees claim that eighty per cent. of those discharged from the institution are leading honest and honorable lives.

They call attention in their report to the fact that the buildings are lighted by more than four hundred oil lamps, which renders the possibility of fire exceedingly great, and they recommend that steps should be taken for the introduction of gas.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

The number of inmates in this institution at the close of the year was thirty-one, an increase of four over the previous year.

C

« PreviousContinue »