The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Tax Rate In 1925, this was as follo x General: rate ............, Tibrary \i?...../....s./l.%. â€" Local Improvements ...... fPublic School Separate Schools ......... HMigh School . Public School Supporters. . Separate School Supporters : Of the above debentures the Proâ€" vince has guaranteed the following :â€" Waterâ€"works ......;.... $128, OOO 00 mewers ......¢.......... 72,000.00 7. Schools .......... 200,000.00 High School Board ...... 135,000.00 y Separdte KSchools ....... 201,000.00 Under the provisions of section 4 of The Statute Labor Act every male mhabitant of Timmins of the age of 21 years and upwards, and under 60 years of age who has not been assessâ€" ed upon the assessment roll is liable to be taxed yearly at not less than $1.00 or more than $5.00 as may be determined by byvâ€"law of the council. Public School Supporters. .. .65.6 Separate School Supporters. .59.6 ‘¢ ~~These rates are high, especially the school â€"rates. _ We think however, that if our saggestions are carried out they ean be reasonably reduced this year, and probably~further next year. Assessment \ The total taxable assessment for 1925 is $5,818,217.00. _ Exemptions not included in the above, amount to $416,750.00. The taxable assessment is made up as follows:â€" and: .........¢..l.... $1,251,120.00 Buildimgs 3,323,765.00 Business 462,838.00 780,494.00 Populatign for 1925 is 13,011. It appears to us that the assessment is rather low as compared with other municipalities of a similar size. It is certainly very low as compared with similar municipalities in old Ontario, and is rather low even as compared with municipalities in Northern Onâ€" tario. A new Assessor has been apâ€" pointed and we therefore do, not deâ€" siÂ¥ to make any further comment with regard to the assessment. Pollâ€"Tax We note that last year only $75.00 was collected for pollâ€"tax. In view of the fact that a large number of persons reside in Timmins who are not assessed upon the assessment roll of the town, and who are employed in the various mines in and adjacent to Timmins, this appears to be a most unreasonably low amount. We also understand that the collections heretoâ€" fore have been made by the police forcee. $1,000,789.01 In addition to the above the Separate School Board has issued deâ€" bentures amounting to $201, 000.00. The preliminary report of the Proâ€" vincial Bureau of Municipal: Affairs, or the Provincial Auditor or what have you, was read at the last meeting of the Town Council. It is a distinct disappointment to those who expected a desperate arraigne ment ofâ€" the past councils and town officials. There is nothing true in the report that was not generally known to all taking interest in municipal affairs, and the suggestions proâ€" ferred after three days‘ study of the town are not very illuminating. To those who have been inclined to view the Provincial Audit and the Municiâ€" pal Bureau as fair and nonâ€"partisan, the report is equally disappointing. Effort at party propaganda ‘seems to be laboured throughout < the whole document. ‘*‘Any twist to make a point‘‘ seems to be a fair motto for the production. It is difficult to believe it to be the work of Provincial officials. Some apparent errors in it are pointed out elsewhere in this issue. The following is the document as signed by J. A. Ellis, director, Bureau of *‘ Municipal Affairs and W. Crawâ€" ford, Provincial Municipal Auditor. To the Mayor ang Council, Town of Timmins, Ont. :â€"Your municipal body having made a request to the Provinâ€" cial Municipal Auditor for a Provinâ€" cial Audit of the books and accounts of your municipality, the affairs of the munfcipality came under considerâ€" ation. In view of the high tax rate levied in the Town the undersigned thought it would be well to make a general survey of the situation, in addition to the Provincial Municipal audit. Considerable information was of course available to us from the returns which have been made by your officials from time to time to the Bureau of Municipal Affairs. _ We accordingly went to Timmins, and made some enquiries into matters on the 11th, 12th and 13th instant and now beg to report to you as follows: Debenture Indebtedness The debentures which have been isâ€" sued are as follows: Waterâ€"works ... %........ $253,801.00 N IEWETS! ; 4. .. 217,793.00 Incimerator ......:....... 11,100.00 Cement Walks .......... 59,115.01 Pavements .........¢... 67,480.00 .......... 200,000.00 Public School issued on annexations ..... Higch School Board P; Nothing Very Informative. Nothing Startling, Except the Very Evident Tendency to "Propaganda." Report â€" Itself Needs an Audit, as There are Some Serious Errors. Further Report Expected Later on. ‘reliminary Report Made by: the Provincial Auditor LÂ¥ t tCA _Â¥ +5 t t tâ€" )e * t i% e 1t 01 M M C 0C 500 0 16000 : t [# :S w # a 4 #% 0 # a # @ o C t > t o t M 0 t 08c 4 o.# 3 2 2 ts s s s sls 1 Supporters. ... ol Supporters . . Follows : ... $253,801.00 217,793.00 11,100.00 59,115.01 67,480.00 200,000.00 $736,000.00 56,500.00 .30 mills 08 02 29 5.06 a High School ‘shall submit his ac: counts to the auditor of the municiâ€" pality in which the High School is situate,"‘ and ‘‘it shall be the duty of the auditor to audit such accounts in the same way as the municipal treasâ€" urer‘s accounts are audited.‘‘ The municipal Auditor must thereâ€" fore audit the Public and High School accounts. The Separate School Board can employ its own auditor. Police Force Under section 354 of The Municipal Act there ‘‘may be constituted by the couneil thereof for every town having a police magistrate a â€"Board of Comâ€" missioners of Police.‘""‘ Such Board would consist of the Mayor, the Judge of the Distriect Court, and the Police Magistrate. Timmins at present has no magistrate of its own, but the mazistrate who is stationed at Hailey# bury comes to Timmins for two days The Public School Board we are inâ€" formed has a separate auditor of its own. Under clause. (q) of section 76 of The Public Schools Act, 1920, it is the duty of the Board of <a Puplic School ‘‘to submit in the case of urâ€" ban municipalities all accounts, books, and vouchers to be audited by the Municipal Auditor whose duty it shall be to audit the same.‘‘ Under section 23 of The High Schools Act (chapter 268 R.S.0.,) the Treasurer and Secretaryâ€" heasurcr of Municipal Auditor We understand that the present auditor makes only a yearly audit. We think he should make an audit at least every month. Officials Under the Municipal Act the posiâ€" tion «of clerk and treasurer can be combined as also can the positions of Assessor and Collector. We underâ€" stand that this is the situation, and we think two officials for these posiâ€" tions are sufficient at present. We understand that there is little prosâ€" pect in the future of many permanent works being undertaken by the enâ€" gineering department, and in view of this we think that probably an enâ€" gineer on part time would answer your purpose at present. The Police Forcee at present is being paid less salaries than the Fire Brigade. _ We think that at least the officials of these two departments should be put on a parity. The Fire Brigade consists of a Chief and eight men with twenty volunteers. This appears to us to be a sufficient force, 4 _ Heretofore the assessment has been made in the year in which the taxes were collected. This means that the collection of taxes is made in one payâ€" ment around October or November, which is not we think a canvenient time" for the ratepayers of Timmins. Under section 56 of The Assessâ€" ment Act, the assessment can be made in one year, and adopted as the basis of taxation for the, following year. We think it should be conmsidered whether this should not be done. The assessment beinog made this year can be used as the basis of taxation this year, and then it ecan also be used as the basis of taxation for 1927. . In 1927 of course a new assessment should be made which could be adoptâ€" ed as the basis of taxation for 1928, and so on from year to year.. This would enable estimates of the proâ€" posed expenditure in future years to be made early in the year, say Februâ€" ary. These estimates would then beâ€" come fixed appropriations which could not be used for other purposes withâ€" out a vote of the council providing further funds by transferring from one appropriation . to another. It is important that appropriations should be made early in the year, and adâ€" hered to as far as possible. The tax rate could be struck immediately afâ€" ter the adoption of the estimates, and we would suggest that the taxes in future be paid in two installments, the first installment say 1st May, and the second 1st September. This we think would probably be more conâ€" venient to the ratepayers, and at the same time it would undoubtedly save the municipality a reasonable amount of money in bank interest. _ When estimates have been adopted, the muniâ€" cipality can borrow from the bank for current account pending the collection of taxes. ~The one disadvantage about this method would be that some business and income taxes might be lost on account of removals from the town. Collection of Taxes. The arrears of taxes outstanding on 31lst December, 1925 for 1924 and preâ€" vious years are $28,055.58, and for 1925 $65,735.35. â€" This seems to be rather a large amount of arrears. We understand that there has never been any tax sale, and we think an effort should be made to collect these arâ€" rears. The employer of such persons is to pay over to the collector on demand out of any wages due to such employee the amount of such tax. If a byâ€"law has not been passed by the town fixâ€" ing the tax, this should be done, and the collector should proceed to collect the tax if found necessary by making a proper demand upon the various employers. Waterworks The debentures issued, for waterâ€" works are all for fifteen years. This might have been done because Timâ€" mins is a mining town. â€" The usual term for such debentures is thirty years. It might be considered howâ€" ever, whether an application should not be made to the Legislature for a special .act at the next session to enable the town to issue new debenâ€" tures for fifteen years more to pay the installments of debentures still comâ€" ing due which have already been isâ€" sued for waterâ€"works purposes. With the present water rates this would probably show a surplus in the waterâ€" works account and under the Public Utilities Act this could be transferred to the general account. _ The stateâ€" ment of assets and liabilities of the waterâ€"works shows that the system is valued at $343,593.00 whereas the deâ€" bentures only amount to $253,801.00. We are informed that the explanaâ€" tion is that house connections have been pai}i for out of the general funds and therefore, it would only be reaâ€" sonable that some surplus from waterâ€" works should be turned over to the general fund for the payments made out of it heretofore for waterâ€"works connection or otherwise on waterâ€" works account. cal Improvements We understand that the cost of the work for which local improvement debentures were issued for permanent pavements and sideâ€"walks has been divided, forty per cent. to be paid by the municipality and sixty per cent. by the property owners.. In addition to this the town of course pays for street intersections. In view of preâ€" sent financial condition of the town we think it should be considered hether or not the property owners should pay the entire cost of the works except street intersections or at all events that the property owners should pay a larger proportion. If this is not considerel advisable then we thin‘: such works should be deâ€" ferred <as far as possible until the town‘s finances are in better shape. ' Bewers The debentures issued for sewers, and sewage disposal plant so far amount to $217,793.00. Of these byâ€" law 187 issued in 1921 for $22,418.00 is being paid out of the general fund. Besides this bhyâ€"law 211 issued in 1922 for $58,750.00 included the sewage disâ€" posal plant, and some sewers which are also being paid out of the general fund.. We think there is discriminaâ€" tion here which is not proper, inasâ€" much as some property owners have to pay for the sewers on the local unâ€" provement plan, and others get them free out of the general fund. Under clause 43 of section 400 of The Muniâ€" cipal Act where sewers are paid for out of the general fund, a sewer renâ€" tal can be charged to the properties fronting on the sewers, and we think this should be done. Such sewer rentals can be charged and collected in the same manner as ordinary taxes. The annual rental charge should be equivalent to what would havys been! paid by the properties effecrted if the The rate levied in 1925 therefor does not appear to exceed the statuâ€" tory limit. Voter‘s List We find that the voter‘s list for 1925, is not divided into polling subâ€" divisions. Under section 391 of The Municipal Act a byâ€"law should be passed providing for polling subâ€"diviâ€" sions which should not exceed 300 voters in any subâ€"division. The pollâ€" ing subâ€"divisions should have well defined boundaries such as streets, etc. and should be formed in the most convenient manner so that the numâ€" ber of electors in each polling subâ€" division shall be equal as nearly as possible. â€" Where the clerk finds that the number of electors in any subâ€" division exceeds 300 he is to notify the Council of the fact in order that further subâ€"divisions can be made. The polling subdivisions are to be numâ€" bered «consecutively. The voter‘s list should be printed in subâ€"divisions giving the boundaries of each at the head, and generally the provisions of section 391 of The Municapal Act should be carefully followed, Public Library Subâ€"section 1 of section 39 of The Public Libraries Act, 1920, provides that the Public Library rate *‘‘shall not exceed a rate on the dollar of taxable assessment that will yield more than fifty cents per capita of the population of the . municipality. ........ but, by a vote of a majority of the Council of Board present, and voting thereon, such rate may ‘be inâ€" creased to yield not more than seventyâ€"five cents per capita of the population.‘‘ Town Hall. This bailding appears to be in rather a bad state and not very well suited for the purposes of civic busiâ€" ness of the town. The jail to which we have referred is in the basement. In view of the present financial conâ€" dition of the town we are not suggestâ€" ing that a new building be erected now, but we do think it will not be long before this will be found necesâ€" sary, and that it should be kept in mind. each week. From our information we gather that his services are quite satisâ€" factory, but we think the polioe forcee could be put m much better ‘shape after a Board‘of Police Commissionâ€" ers was established. The police force is at present subject to the control of the Town Council, and we think in the general interests it would be better to have it controlled by a Board of Police Commissioners. The jail is by no means in a satisfactory conâ€" dition. THFE PORCUPINE ADVANCE, TIMMINS, ONTARIO The report of the Provincial Mun ecipal Auditor when made will deal more fully with the books and vouchers of the municipality and matters arising out of them, and probably also with some of the matâ€" ters dealt with by us in our general survey. Director, Burean of Municipal A ffairs â€"Provineial Municipal Auditor. Toronto, Ont., 47 Queen‘s Park, May 25th, 1925. The Separate School assessment in 1925 was $2,539,199.08, Average atâ€" tendance 1,250, and the tax rate 23 mills. This gives the amount paid out of taxes for each child based on the average attendance $46.72. In view of the high tax rate, and the desire of the municipal council to reduce same, it seems to us that the School Boards might be asked to coâ€" operate with the council in endeavyorâ€" ing to attain this object. taxes for each child based on the average attendance $82.47. The asâ€" sessment for high school purposes in 1925 was $5,818,217.00, the average attendance 170, and the rate 5.6 mills. This gives the amount paid of taxes for each child based om the average attendance $191.66. Charity In 1925, expenditure on this acâ€" count was $21,261.64. This appears to us to be very high. It was exâ€" plained to us that a considerable number of persons came into Timmins from outside places seeking work or who otherwise became a charge upon the municipality. _ Even taking this into account it appears to us that the amount might be reduced. Members of Council We would draw attention to clause (p) of section 53 of The Municipal Act which provides that a person shall not ‘be eligible to be elected a member of a council or be entitled to sit or vote therein who ‘*having himâ€" self or by or with or through anâ€" other an interest in any contract with the corporation or with any commisâ€" sion or person acting for the corporaâ€" tion or on any contract for the supâ€" ply of goods or materials to a conâ€" tractor for work for which the corâ€" poration pays or is liable directly or indirectly to pay, or which is subjeect to the or supervision of the council or of an officer of the corâ€" poration, or who has an unsatisfied claim for such goods or materials.‘" Schools The Public School assessment in 1925 was $3.279,018 tax rate 29 mills, and the average attendance 1,153. This gives the amount paid. out of Under chapter 69 of 1925, sanitary conveniences can be installed by the municipality in any premises, and the cost thereof including interest at six percent is to be paid by the owner in five anuual payments. _ Such annual payments~are to be added to the colâ€" lector‘s roll, and collected the same fway as municipal taxes. The diffiâ€" culty about this latter provision is that there does not appear to be any provision for issuing debentures for the five years, and this would mean that the municipality would have to pay the cost of installing the saniâ€" tary conveniences out of the general fund and get the amount in five annual installments. \ Street Maintenance The cost of this in 1925 was $36.â€" 884.24. Included in this however, is the cost of street lighting which we are informed is about $8,502.00 per annum. _ The amount also "ncludes part of the salaries of the engineer, and foremen, and the maintenance of a team. Under section 5 of The Local Imâ€" provement Act (chapter 193 R.S.0.,) private drain connections may be unâ€" dertaken as a local improvement from the sewer to the street line on either or both sides by a vote of twoâ€"thirds of all the members of the council, and the cost thereof can be specially assessed upon the particular lots in question with which the private drain connectionk are made. The debenâ€" tures could be issued for the same period as a sewer debenture. We are informed that the cost of each priâ€" vate drain connection at present is $60.00 and that some property owners have not made the connections on account of this cost. If these proâ€" perties are assessed for night soil reâ€" moval they perhaps might beâ€" more willing to put in sanitary conveniences if the private drain connections are made as local improvements. Under clause 12 of section 399 of The Maunicipal Act the council may provide that the collection, removal and disposal by the Corporation of the contents of outside closets throughout the whole municipality or in defined areas of it shall be done at the expense of the owners or occuâ€" pants of the land therein, and for that purpose a special rate may be imâ€" posed which is to be collected and reâ€" covered in like manner as municipal taxes. We find that $14,633.00 was paid in 1925 for secavenging. Considerable of this was for the removal of night soil. We are informed that a number of persons in front of whose lots sewers were constructed have made no conâ€" nections with such sewers, and are getting their night soil.removed from outside closets out of the general fund. If only on sanitary grounds we think this is objectionable. _ It is also objectionable that persons who have gone to the expense of putting in sanitary conveniences in their preâ€" mises should have to assist in paying for the removal of night soil from premises the owners of which have not gone to this expenditure. w\ sn #% sewers had been constructed as local improvements. ate ate 00430000 020 0 30 030070000 000000400 000 200000â€"400000000 000 400000000400 ts + to en Capital and Reserve $14,500,000.00 Total Assets $124,870,318.11 It is good to enjoy the Age of Reflection : to contemplate one‘s achievements in the solidity and security of financial indepenâ€" dence. This is the time that every man should look forward to and prepare for. Only those enjoy the Afie of Reflection who, during their years of achievement, have had the wisdom to provie for these years of satisfaction and contentment. If you have had the wisdom to provide for the Age of Reflection by means of a Conferation Life Guaranteed Income Policy for a sufficient amount, you will then be enjoying the satisfaction of receiving a definite Guaranteed Monthfy ‘ncome for Life. Such a policy will guarantee you complete independence at th e Reflection. %g Income will payaf:lc promptly each month HOA‘: figl{ Business conditions do not affect your income. It can not fail. ing pamphlet "A Choque in the Mail" gives all particulars, and upon request. e interestâ€" will sent PELEG HOWLAND, Please send me your pamphlet entitled "A Cheque in the Mail" Excavations for Cellars, Sewers, Etc. Contracts of all kinds taken The Age of Reflection E. C. WARD, Dis. Mgr., Cochrane, Ontario. A. W. PICKERING, Gen. Agt., Timmins, Ont, SIMMS, HOOKER DREW, Local Agents, The services of a trained expert on Life Insurance, for consultation, is yours for lll:fah'ng, or if you would p:zfcr, full particulars will be sen m LEO MASCIOLI . PHIPPS, General Manager. These branches have grown up with Northern Ontario, and the efficiency of the service, and the understanding which the managers and officials have of this territory, is built upon long experience. THE Imperial Bank of Canada l o P N MAA ** \Tl\dkm n.. M * *"*prospected" Northern On tario before the day of the roaring stamp mill. Cobalt branch was opened in 1905, and ten branches, situated at important centres, now serve the territory from North Bay to Hearst. SIR JAMES WOODS, Viceâ€"President., e 1 Vllnlttlz try where the Thursday, June 17th, 1926 Phone No. 321