Lyons Dismisses Conant's Answer

Mayor John W. Lyons announced yesterday that he would not accept President Conant's refusal to contribute voluntarily toward the finances of the community. A meeting of the special city committee was called for tomorrow.

In a statement Mayor Lyons declared that President Conant's communication could be accepted as nothing less than a flat refusal of the request of the City of Cambridge for an annual contribution of $100,000 in place of taxes on tax-exempt property.

May Tax Dormitories, Dining Rooms

The committee will discuss the possibility of a conference with members of the Corporation on Friday afternoon. The feasibility of legislation that would tax dormitories and dining rooms will be talked over, for, said Mayor Lyons, "Certainly, the conducting of them is a business."

The mayor explained that the $100,000 figure was arrived at only after careful consideration by the committee, "having taken the proportion of the total budgets of the fire and police departments, and the valuation of exempt real estate owned by Harvard bears to the total value of real estate in the city."

The committee has already had one conference in regard to the proposed contribution, but Lyons feels another might prove more fruitful.