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Show decided and approved by the Public Service Commission. If the federation builds the line, then the people will own the line. Councilman Slack is also concerned"; about being forced to serve all of southern Utah and especially St. '-George. '-George. When there is new construction con-struction needed, after the federation : and agency take over, St. George will "payTnore than Cedar City for this : construction. They have more power hookups than Cedar City, and they will also help pay for the transmission line from Parowan to Cedar City. If the system remains with CPN or another non municipal owner, Cedar City will pay the big part of any construction they do, whether from Parowan to Cedar City or from Cedar Ctiy to St. George, and you'd better believe it. Certainly Mr. Slack hasn't ' forgotten the power line from Sigurd to the Iron County line. Cedar City is still paying for this construction. Councilman Slack and other coun- ' cilmen who are fighting municipal power can't see beyond the end of their nose. Cedar City is growing, the present transmission line from Parowan is at capacity. Now don't you think Cedar City needs additional power capabilities as well as other southern Utah communities. We need coun-cilmen coun-cilmen who "Dan look into the future, we need councilmen who realize the great value of the business that comes from the surrounding communities and helps support our economy and helps pay our taxes. Why are the councilmen from Cedar City opposed to cooperating with other communities? com-munities? Mayor Sawyers stated that the agency would have a hard time buying the Cal Pac system without Cedar City. All I can say to that statement is it sounds like the same old record that has been played too ' many times in the past, and the people of Cedar City has suffered as the result. The Southwest Power Agency has the money available to purchase California Pacific National, Cedar City and Southern Utah operation. In fact there is a movement on now to do just that whether Cedar City participates or not. Mayor Sawyers questioned whether many of the small communities would remain in the federation once the purchase is made. ..wrong mayor... everyone of the small communities and the larger communities, com-munities, with the exception of Cedar City, have signed a legal document which commits them to the federation, including Kanab...but Mayor Sawyers, looking into his crystal ball can see Kanab buying power from Garkane Power Company. Com-pany. The mayor doesn't know that Garkane is going to join the federation when the purchase is made. Now Mayor Sawyers, councilman Shirley and Councilwoman Starr, in the past election, all ran on a platform of cheaper power for Cedar City. Starr is the only one that has honored . , this commitment to the voters of Cedar City. The others have opposed municple power in various degrees. Cheaper power is so essential to the growth of Cedar City, that if we don't go along with the other southern Utah communities we will be stymied for years to come. Already new business construction has been halted because of the high power rate, and most of the ( new industry is going to St. George. Cedar City, just three years ago was doing more retail business than St. George. Today Washington County : and St. George does ten million ' dollars more retail sales than Cedar : City and Iron County and it will be 1 even greater next year. The federal government is installing in-stalling two new turbines at Glen Canyon, and Cedar City will once again have the opportunity to get the "cheap" power, but only if it has a municipal system. Don't let a few individuals saddle us with high power rates again. Forrest Hunter s N Letters To The Editor Editor: Whether court action blocking' the excess fund tax rebate program is temporary or permanent it is becoming apparent that legislators should be thinking now abut tax relief that is reasonable. Utahns for Tax Reform at Cedar City have urged the Legislature to work for constitutional amendments that would phase out the property tax on buildings, improvements and personal property over a 5 year period, while greatly increasing the collection of economic rent commonly called the land value tax. The community gives value to land and the collection of economic rent for the community meets all of the requirements of justice and equity. The undertaxation of land values creates an enormous privilege in land that encourages speculative withholding, city slums, difficulties with good land use planning and unemployment. Indeed, tax reform is a national problem. The Proposition 13 type of remedy and the ill conceived Utah excess revenue rebate act do little to recognize the need for real reform.. Farl A. Hanson, Secretary Utahns for Tax Reform Dear Editor: ' I would like to answer the front page article in the Sept. 27 "Iron County Record", entitled "Controversy "Con-troversy over Membership in Federation Surfaces Again." The problem with the Cedar City council, with the exception of Barbara Starr, is that they have never taken time to find out the structure of the Southwest Utah Cooperative Power Federation. They make a big issue about having one vote in the federation and in the same breath cry that they are against building a new transmission line from Parowan to Cedar City or from Cerdar City to St. George. They should know that the federation has nothing to do with getting money to build any kind of power lines. The federation cannot bond as it has no bonding authority . The federation is a non profit cooperative whose sole purpose is to wheel power to the various cities and to maintain the lines. They will employ all of CP-National's CP-National's emDlovees. and, will be 1 managed by a highly trained 1 executive who knows the electric power business, therefore eliminating any politics in the federation. Any construction money must come from the Southwest Power Agency which is composed of the member cities, in i which Cedar City belongs. cedar City1 will contract from the federation a block of power to serve their needs. The power will be metered to Cedar Ctiy at its city limits and Cedar City will sell their power to their citizens, by reading the meters monthly. Now what's so important about having more than one vote in the Federation? I'm certain that Cedar City politicians are not capable of running a power complex, and the people of Cedar City wouldn't want them to. I think it is time that the citizens of Cedar City realize what some members of the city council are trying to do. Through irresponsible statements and half truths they are trying to skuttle municipal power for Cedar City and southern Utah. Now let's get the truth out to the people of Cedar City for a change. Mayor Sawyers states that "Cedar City doesn't need the federation because ICPA would supply the power to Cedar City." This is an irresponsible statement. ICPA's business is building power plants and electrical engineering, not servicing power to every little town in southern Utah. ICPA is solidly behind the federation, in fact their attorney is also the attorney for the So-SWUCPF. So-SWUCPF. If the mayor could una a power source, which he can't, he, wouldn't have a distribution system in Cedar City, as CPN is negotiating to sell its entire system to the agency and federation. Jack Whiting says the federation shouldn't have chosen Goldman and Sachs as their money source because they have not attended a number of meetings with the agency. I The fact of the matter is that Jack Whiting has not attended "a number : of meetings," so how could he know if Goldman and Sachs were there? For : the public's information, they have been there when they were needed. , And tpset the record straight, the ! agency, in which Jack Whiting represents the city chose Goldman and Sachs, not the federation. I don't ' ' think it matters too much who supplies the money to buy CPN's facilities, as long as the interst charged is the lowest and the money is available for the time needed for the purchase. Statements that Mr. Whiting is quoted as saying, merely confuse the issue and does nothing but make an attempt to skuttle the municipal power issue. Councilman Slack states, he is concerned about subsidizing the transmission of "cheap jxwer" from Glen Canyon for preference customers like St. George. Its obvious Councilman Slack is not knowledgeable of the transmission contract between CPN and the Federal Bureau of Reclamation. This contract lasts for one hundred years and whoever owns the transmission line will have to wheel the power to these preference customers. All I can say, is that its too bad that Cedar City . isn't a preference customer, Slack is also concerned about the " possibility of Cedar City participating in a new transmission line from Parowan to Cedar City. Its true the line from Parowan to Cedar City is at capacity. Cedar City will have to pay for that line if CPN keeps its power '.-system, and the cost will be charged to our power bills. That's already |