The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1900-10-11

ton OF the bonds outstanding except the
annual interest Sccruing thereon. The
annual tax levy to be made for the pur.
pose Of redeeming the bonds at maturity
cannot be avoided, and in our opinion,
it would not be wise to attempt to do so,
for the reason that bonds can be negoti.
ated at this time bearing much lower
rate of interest. For the foregoing rea-
sons the board can find no means for
making provision for the payment of the
warrant indebtedness Of the county now
outstanding before all bonds outstanding
are redeemed without levying exhorbi.
tant taS es for some years to come. So
far as can be seen at present, the tax
levy in the future will not be less than
this year, without making any provisi on
for the warrant Indebtedness.
There are two obstacles in the way OF
allowing the warrant indebtedness to
stand in it's present form First, the
warrants are due and we are advised that
any warrant holder may compel the
board to levy an annual tax Of five mills
until all are paid. This cannot be pre-
vented as under the decisions of our
courts many of the warrants cannot be
questioned and the party bringing the
suit need hold but one warrant. This
tax would be in addition to the other
taxes above mentioned. The second OBJ
lection is the fact that these warrants
bear interest at the rate OF s per cent per
annum on their face, or $4,000 annually,
while bonds can be substituted for them
bearing only four Per cent per annum, or
a saving of $1100 annually. In addition
to this. If the county desires to pay it's
bonds more rapidly they can take up the
81 per cent bonds and leave the 4 per
cents outstanding, saving q per cent on
all bonds thus taken up.
1T may be added that at the present
time there are but very little delinquent
taxes to meet any demands against the
county: never before have taxes been so
we'll paid up. The entire delinquent tax
list, including the last half Of the 1899
tax which is not yet due, does not amount
to two-fifths of the tax levied for the year
1899 alone.
From the foregoing statement it will
be seen that the commissioners are not
attempting and have no desire to increase
the Indebtedness Of the county. Their
sole object is to put the finances OF the
county in better condition and save the
taxpayers from paying unnecessary inter-
est or exhorbitant taxes for the next few
years. They see no objection to this
course because as stated above the coun-
tv will commence to redeem it's outstand
ing bonds next year and If the laws Of
the state are complied with, these out
bonds will all be redeemed in
1918. At the expiration of ten years the
must also commence to
make provision for the redemption of the
bonds contemplated ut this time. 1t
must therefore be apparent to every pro-
perty owner in the county that the de-
mands against the treasury for some
years to come will be sufficient without
the commissioners to make
provision for the redemption OF the pre-
sent warrant Indebtedness.
Believing therefore that the step pro-
posed to be taken by the board OF county
will be for the best inter-
est of all concerned and that it will place
the finances of the county in a more sat
condition and save us from the
necessity Of exhorbitant tax levies in the
next few years and unnecessarily high
rates of interest on the outstanding in
debtedness, we submit the question to
the voters for their approval at the next
ensuing election