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Show Statement of the City Council to Taxpayers V Owin? to an article app3arina: in last week's "Pyramid," under the caption "fo The Taxpayers of Mount Pleasant," signed "Com -nirt-e," which places th.3 City Council in a false light in relation to the question of an electric ijht plant far tne ciry, and vvnic'i also contains a number of inaccuracies and misleading statements upon the ques:ion, the City Council Coun-cil appointed a eom,nitte3 to prepare a statement of the facts in th case to be submitted to the t ixoavers of our city. This question was brought to the attention of theCouncil some months ago by the local Electric Light Company, which rial reached a condition wheriit could not sup )ly t le am junt of iig.it a id paver required by tie peop'e of M )unt P.e is uit an I wjjM ha-'e lo either enlarge its plant or sell it. At that time the Telluride Company, which is trying to monopolize monopo-lize the electrical field in this and other states, was making overtures t) the local company to b ty its p'ant, and t le lojal c J.npany desired to know whether the city would c ire to purc'ias t'n ; pi .lit or wvjld guarantee the local company protection fr m ot ir o n ia ii.js and from the city's installing in-stalling a municipal p'ant, in ca;e the lo 'a C).ni.)any w juld proceed to enlarge en-large its plant. Thereupon the Council proceed ;d to m ik? inquiries from many cities throughout the state wnere municipal po.v.'r plants are owned and oper-(? oper-(? add and, without exiepdan, th ; repj;-t ein' back that such p'ant? are a I success, and that the revenu -sd rivei therefrom are ample to, pay the V running expenses, the interest on the bonds and to create a sinking fund Y- with which to redeem the bon U at mavirity. The ci'.y has no assurance that th ; Teliuride Comoany may not com; into possession of the local plant it' th ; city does not purchase it. If such change is made, the citizens may expe :t an increase of 50 per cent, of the present rates for electrical current, as' is the case where the Teliuride Company controls the plants. Contrary to the statement made by the so-called "committee," published pub-lished in last week's Pyramid, it is not the City Council that asks the 4 p?ople to vote a bond. A mass meeting of citizens, regularly called, ''voted solidly, with the exception of one Derson, to direct the Council to submit the question of a bond issue to the vote of the people Tne City Council does not wish to urge the people to vote this bond, onlv so far a it fejls that the time is opportune for the city to install and own its ow 1 electric light plant. To assist the citizens, these facts are here submitted. In this matter there should not be a confusion of city and school matters, mat-ters, as they are entirely separate corporate units, both as to people and territory. The indebtedness of the School District, both bonds and floating, float-ing, has been incurred in the erection of the High School building, and will, no doubt, eventually be transferred to the North Sanpete High Sr-hool District, which is even now paying rent for the building, while it remains the property of the Mount Pleasant District, and in the ultimate payment of the bonds, Mount Pleasant taxpayers will only pay their proportion pro-portion with the rest of the High School District. The figures of indebtedness submitted in the article mentioned above are exaggerated both as to city and School District. Tne city's waterworks water-works bonds are $18,000.00. That system is now paying its own way and no further taxation is needed to pay that debt. Tne floating deot is $10,900 00, of which, however, more than $3,000.03 will be repaid the city from deferred sidewalk payments, leaving less than $3,000.03 actual floating float-ing indebtedness. The School District has a floating indebtedness of $6,503.00, instead of $'2,000.00, as stated in the said article. Comparison of the costs of installation of other municipal plants justifies justi-fies the Council in the opinion that the estimate of the engineer is ample to cover the cost of the installation of the plant, and the bonds, if voted, will supply the required funds. Should it develop that there is any miscalculation so that the bids for constructing the plant exceed the bond proposed, the Council feels that it would be the proper course to consult the taxpayers before incurring any excess indebtedness. If the local plant is to be purchased, even though the building of a power plant in the canyon should be temp jrarily su pended or abandoned, it would be necessary to vote a bond, for that is the n'y m ir.-ner ir.-ner provided by law to raise the money. The city cannot legal y borrow money on its note for the purpose. The indebtedness must be authorised by a vote of the taxpayers. On a bond the money could be gotten at 4 1-2 to 5 percent., whilst the proposition advanced by the opponents of bonding bond-ing contemplates paying 6 per cent. Do not lose sight of the further fact that, even if the bonds are voted, they do not have to be issued nor sold, unless the citizens fin J it necessary and proper to do so; and they may be sold in part or in whole, as necessity and wisdom may dictate. The gentlemen who sign their names as "Committee" to the article referred to have failed to make plain whose committee they are or whom they represent, so that it might be kno.vn by what authority they speak. The person who wrote said article seems s.) anxious to defeat this move and place the furnishing of light and power for our city and its inhabitants inhabit-ants in the hands of a great foreign corporation that the question is naturally natur-ally being asked Who is paying the expenses of his fight for the Teliuride Power Company and how much is th e writer receiving for his efforts in behalf of said corporation? Fellow Citizens and Taxpayers: Give this important question your earnest and unprejudiced consideration, for the question is now up to you for its final solution. Do what you sincerely believe will be for the best interests of yourselves and vour city. JAMES W. ANDERSON, Mayor; A. MERZ, Citv Councilman; DANIEL RASMUSSEN, City Recorder; GEORGE CHRISTENSEN, City Attorney; Committee Arrointed By the City Council. |