Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-13
Thursday Morning, Oct. 13, 1881.
AN ExPLANATION,

In another column Professor Johnson T. Platt finds some fault with those who assert l that if the city buys the Water Company's 1 property there will be water tax on i'm I proved and unimproved property, and that | if that water tax is unpaid lien will be placed on the property. He also says he feels some uncertainty as to what is meant l by those who make these assertions We are ! not answerable for our correspondents, but 1 will try to make our own meaning clear tc 1 him.
 1 First, as to the necessity for water tax ii l the city takes the waterworks. Professor rosy showing made in the report of the special committee, swallow it whole, and con fdently announce that the income from water rates as low as the present ones will pay all expenses and create sinking fund. This is simply counting chickens before they
 are matched, iffnot before the eggs out ot
 which they are to come are laid. By this
 the waterworks, when owned by the city, pay
 the expenses of all the city departments. The
 facts, in our opinion, and in the opinion of
 many of the best business men of New Ha-
 ven, would be very different. The report al-
 luded to is based on the present order of
 things. The waterworks are managed very
 economically now, much more so than they
 could be by the city. If the city takes the
 works it must immediately spend large
 sum-probably not less than $500, ,OOO-in
 improvements. It would continue to spend
 good deal in putting mains through streets,
 etc., and part of this expenditure would
 not be strictly necessary. Judging from what
 can be foreseen and the experience of other
 cities the expenses would grow faster than the income, and a tax to make up the de- fciency would be required. This tax would take the form of high water rates or be laid directly upon improved and unimproved property. We believe that tax would be laid very after the water works were bought by the city. If Professor Platt can guarantee that there wiR be no necessity for such a tax his complaint has weight. If he cannot we shall still hold to our opinion. We shall, moreover, accuse him of attempting to forestall calm and de- iberate judgment upon the question by his Gas we regard them) unfounded assertions.
 In what Professor Platt has to say con- corning the manner in which water tax could be laid he has not made the matter very clear. If the income from the city's water rates should show deficiency that de- fciency could be made up by general taxation. We are now taxed to pay interest on the sew CT bonds, etc., and we could be taxed in the 4- l1 He says: ''If it is intended to assert that special sum- as 8 water tax. in the nature of an assessment is to be levied upon each lot adjoining street in which there is water main, the statement is also incorrect. know of no law that would give the city power to do anything of the kind D There is no pro- vision of common law which authorizes a city to assess damages and benefits either for roads, sewers, water or gas. But the Legis- lature has granted the city of New Haven such power in the cases of streets and sew CTS, and it would also readily grant such power
 in the case of water if it were asked to do so After this power had been obtained assess ments on account of water mains could be laid on adjoining property, and such assess ments would be liens on the property. We make this explanation not for the instruction of Professor Platt but to prevent his man. ner of presenting the matter from misleading anyone.
 In conclusion we remind our readers that while the theory that city should own its own waterworks has charms as theory, 1t has not invariably, not to say generally, worked to the benefit of taxpayers. The Water Company has offered to furnish the city with water cheaply, to keep the rates to private consumers as low as they are now, and to sell it's works at a fair price to the city whenever they are really wanted. What, under the circumstances is to be gained by not letting well enough alone?