OFFICE OF THE MAYOR PHILADELPHIA. Mayor: CHARLES F. WARWICK. Secretary: JOHN K. McCARTHY. Chief Clerk: Contract and License Clerk. JOSEPH F. JONES. Stenographer and Typewriter: Ass't Stenographer and Typewriter : Messenger: WII LIAM G. LEE. THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, CITY HALL. Philadelphia, April 4, 1898. TO THE SELECT AND COMMON COUNCILS OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. GENTLEMEN: In accordance with the provisions of the Act of Assembly of June 1, 1885, I herewith transmit to your Honorable Bodies this, my Third Annual Message, upon the financial and general conditions of the Municipality. I also send the Annual Reports of the Directors of the Departments of Public Safety and Public Works, and of the President of the Department of Charities and Correction for the year 1897. FINANCE. The Annual Report of the City Controller shows that the total receipts of the City from all sources for the year 1897 were $32,683,285.98 and the total expenditures $29,616,999.07, showing an excess of receipts over expenditures of $3,066,286.91. The receipts include the loans that were negotiated during the year 1897. The funded debt of the City January 1, 1898, less the City Loans held by the Sinking Fund Commission and including outstanding warrants, was $39,174,353.75; the funded debt January 1, 1897, less the City Loans held by the Sinking Fund Commission and including outstanding warrants, was $35,479,579.93, showing an increase of total debt since January 1, 1897, of $3,694,773.82. The additions to the funded debt during 1897 were $5,054,275.00, made up in the following manner: Of the $6,000,000 Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Subway Loan of March 15, 1894, there was issued on account $2,400,000; for the improvement of Delaware avenue there was issued a loan of $2,000,000; for the Refunding Loan of June 17, 1897, $650,000 and unclaimed matured loans amounting to $4,275.00. The amount redeemed during the same period was $2,204,600, making an increase in the gross funded debt for the year of $2,849,675. Deducting the City securities held by the Sinking Fund Commission from this gross funded debt leaves a net funded debt of $37,939,220.22. The real estate owned by the City as appraised by the Board of Revision of Taxes for the year 1898 amounts to $53,793,669, showing an increase over the appraisement of January 1, 1897, of $1,018,775. It will be seen by the Controller's report that there is an apparent deficit. This, however, is susceptible of explanation. The appearance of even a seeming deficiency is misleading and results, in a measure, in affecting the credit of the City, especially in the minds of those who do not carefully study the details. The apparent deficiency is due to the fact that the personal property taxes for 1897, amounting to $1,031,608.93 and the amount due for schools, $1,289,934.16, making a total of $2,321,543.09, have not all been paid by the officers of the State to the City, as required by law, only $600,000 having been remitted, leaving a balance due the City and unpaid at the time the Controller made his report of $1,721,543.09. The same condition has prevailed for years and it is vicious and unwarranted. In the settlement of the City's |