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Show i Municipal Power Plant Profitable Spi ingcille s municipally owned electric power plant is without doubt the most profitable invisi- I ment ever made hy the city. This ' piant wus sponsored by the cu,-council cu,-council in KnJ-Oo, when the late H , T. Reynolds, was mayor. At runtime run-time a bond issue for $22,000.00 wus authorized by the voice of the people, peo-ple, and on January 30, 1904 another an-other amount of $1-1,000 was ackte.l to the first., making a total of $36,000.00. Work on the plant in I-Iobbio Creek canyon began in the piin.r of 1903, and during the latter pnu oi that year the tirst power v,-;u i generated for public use. The established estab-lished rates then were as fohuws: ! one light 50 cents per month; 2 t'oi I 7'c and 3 for $1.00. Later th j meter rate was put into c-fleet on u 7 cent k. w. h. rate. , Serving only a portion of Uie resident.! the system jua tiihu Ce. aial added to mil il how all i- ;i- i deids are served. . 'j he :,i reel ngnls were pinvi.lm j from the original m .ciliauon, t lie first generator und in .lalUiiion u-- j maining in servie.e until pttii, wliei. j the citizens aguin elected io l.i:i ; and install a new power phij housed in jii up to (lute ,i n-lt i building al the old site m ih.ijM i Creek canyon. j The income from the system Ins at all times proved to be a prafii- ; able investment to t he cu y, die , funds derived us :d In such u uay j as to be directly reflected in reduced re-duced tax levies. As an illustration let us compare com-pare first the matfci of sti em lighting: Wo have, in the way of stree,: lights, and public building lit'hlo, which if t u i n : sh e l by a co r jra-tion jra-tion other than tho city would cu in the neighborhood of $i".,!Ui -jii-nually, based on ihe diLue pum iiy municipalilie.i iml ov.'ini; Iheii uwii elect ric UghL f:y.;t em. i !n-u ui the present. ;i:ssesed valuations tin:; would be an mhled burden ot a (our mill levy ; mo; e t lun a 2.i per cent inciea.se over thr levy t the present yeai wnieh would 1).' .e,tjmvalen.i. t-a uit; .cta.n,fc.iK,M-"-. the convenience of ..try;1'. ligij'.i;'... . It is said that ai the pic.-.i.nt t - i many numicipa lities are serif,, i considering discontinum); i..-1 street iighu due to t::x binder,. A.'i the demand increased tot power service, it was necessary f-r the city to obtain stundoy sfivL? which was obtained from Lhe Unit ed States Reclamation service tun.' its plant at the mouth oi Spai.ifh Fork canyon. This arrangenu';if is still effective, ample power being provided lor all services. Beside contributing generoiuiy (Continued on I'uge Six) POWER PLANT IS PROFITABLE (Continued from Page Two) to the other funds of the city, an j accumulation of earnings Trom the i system was available :n 1930 for the the building of a hydro-electric plant on Spring Creek, costing approximately ap-proximately $20,000.00 This addition, addi-tion, as stated, did not add to taxpayers tax-payers burden but was paid entirely entire-ly from the earnings. , This plant is operated by the water of the waterworks system, the plant being located immediately immediate-ly east of the head-house: The value of this additional power pow-er unit has been reflected in the amount paid for standby servic;-from servic;-from the Strawberry waterusers association being reduced from $4,-000.00 $4,-000.00 in 1030 to $2,200.00 for the current year. The earning each, year for several sev-eral years previous has been an amount equal to a five mill levy in addition to the street lighting. For instance, we will discuss the year 1931. The receipts of this par-ticuldr par-ticuldr year amounted to $2S,5i J. the expenses of maintenance and operation for the same year amounted to $11,033. CI, leaving an amount of approximately $17,500.00 available for other, city expenses. Of this' amount " $4,000.00 was trans-, f erred to the street department ii a king . possible. . the program. ., of good t"VK,K $1,000.00' to. electric hi Umii jlkmg f and, . $3,816.41 to the -general fund ,the balance, oing into the system and the total representing, the equivalent , of more than 0 miils. - ; Unlike many municipalities i Springville has not had occasion to ; borrow .on, tax anticipation notes. Here again is reflected the value, oi che electric ' fight system, the receipts re-ceipts of which having been used for current expenses until the collection col-lection of general taxes. Hundreds "f dollars in interest are thus saved , v the, .taxpayers. , , . . Wisdom has been shown in ,all nv city administrations, in the in-. ;tallation and the continued operation oper-ation by the city of our own plant, and system, surely it would be a great folly if at any time such should be discontinued and the system sys-tem sold to a power corporation. . In few : instances ..are pur rates and services criticized, it being, impossible im-possible for any power company to furnish uninterrupted service at all. times. As for rates those of the city's are comparable with others, and if one" stops to ccmsider that' he receives an annual dividend in theway of reduced taxes any criticism criti-cism is not justified. ... If it were possible to. collect .all accounts' which are now due and will become due in the next year, a moratorium could be declared on the city taxes for the next ensuing year, and all future levies reduced materially. |