ity Government.

The city government of Atlanta is administered by a Mayor and General
Council and Executive Boards. The legislative body is composed of
councilmen from the different wards, elected by the whole city, and
aldermen who are elected in a like manner. The aldermen and councilmen
vote separately on matters involving the expenditure of money, and the
concurrence of both bodies is necessary to an appropriation. The Mayor has
the usual veto power.

The tax rate is one and a quarter per cent. and the ratio of assessment
to real value of property is about sixty per cent. The assessed value of
real and personal property is $63,356,235.

The city owns property valued at eleven millions, and has a bonded debt of
$3,481,500. Deducting the Sinking Fund of $274,997.68, the net debt is
$3,206,502.32. There is no floating debt, and the bonded debt is limited
by the State Constitution to seven per cent. on the taxable value of the
property. The net debt is therefore $1,000,000 under the limit.

The Charter requires the Mayor and General Council to carry over a balance
of $175,000 in cash from year to year. This keeps the Treasury in good
condition and the city is able to float three and one-half per cent. bonds
at par and above.

There is a Sinking Fund Commission, which was created by a special act of
the Legislature, and the Mayor and General Council are required to set
aside each year from the revenues of the city an amount sufficient to
retire the bonded debt within thirty years.

The expenditures of the city for the year 1903 were $1,646,888.49. In the
same period, the revenues and other receipts, including bonds, the
proceeds of which were expended, were $2,036,548.32. The difference is
accounted for by a balance carried over from the previous year.

Police.

Atlanta has a fine Police Department, divided into three watches of eight
hours each. It has valuable auxiliaries in the mounted men and the bicycle
corps, numbering forty men.

There is a fine central station, which cost $100,000, and a Police signal
system with telephone connections. The expenditures of the Department
during 1903 amounted to $151,151.23.

Fire Protection.

Atlanta has a model Fire Department, well equipped with modern apparatus,
and supplied with water at fire pressure from the pumping-station of the
waterworks. In 1903 the Department cost $123,235.00; the number of fires
was 502 and the value of buildings and contents at risk