The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1902-03-28
Mr.. Davidson Replied To.


X was chairman Of the finance commitie
ii during the past two years, and up &
l. his resignation, several months AZ,
y He reminds Us Of the unfortunate con
ditons now facing IL, Of which ! sup
k pose most Of the citizens aud tax payer
y are familiar, especially a TO our bond
ed debt contracted some years ago
mainly Of bonds issued to the r. ~. T.
81 X. X. Co., and for the light plant
, Doubtless each aud every tax payer re-
grets the large obligations Of the town
due mainly to bonds issued for the
, above, which amount, in round figures
il between sixty and seventy thousand
dollars, upon which We annually pay "A
large interest.
Mr.. Davidson has given us at length
the dangers threatening, but suggests
no remedy for the situation, logical,
except increase in taxation lie in
making comparison Of expenses and
balances for the years 1895 10 1901, did
not explain to the public the perma-
nent Improvements made during the
past two years in comparison with
previous years. will briefly state
that l have served on the council two
years a. chairman Of the light COM
mittee, and a. a member of the street
committee, and finance committee, and
/ in justice to myself and other members
Of the council must make the follow
ing statements that were omitted by
| Mr. Davidson.
During the past twelve months heavy
rains and floods have been more dis
astrou- 10 all highways than has been
known for years, and large sums Of
money had to be- spent to keep them
ia condition. We also had to spend
from ten to twelve hundred dollars IN
building the road-bed between Cum
berland bridge and the y n W depot
one Of the most important thorough
fares leading TO our town, and demand
ed by our citizens We als1 had to pur
chase new dynamo for the light plant |
at considerable cost, and re- placed old |
decayed and dangerous poles all Of |
which incurred expense on the light |
plant considerably during the past few
years over previous years, because in or
der to curtail the expenses up to two
years ago the poles Of the light company
had been allowed to be i'm "a dangerous
condition. endangering life and proper
~, many Of them blowing fiat on the
ground m stormy weather, and it be-
came imperative to re place them with
new poles. A great deal Of new work
has also been done, putting new lights
IN factOrics, warehouses, etc, all of
which incurred extra expense to the
light plant. Main street has also been
permanently improved during the past
twelve months which shows for itself,
and many other small Improvements
which ! do not now re- call. In
justice 10 the present council Mr.. Day
id-0n should have made these state
menls TO the people We represent in
his report, and not lead them to believe
we were spending their funds reckless
Is. Mr. Davidson suggests the only
way, logical, to raise funds 10 meet the
situation is by increasing taxation.
believe this would be an imposition on
the tax payer who now pays taxes on
full cash value Of his property over the
party who only pays ON about one
fourth cash value.
am induced to say this because
there are taxpayers who only pay on
about one fourth Of the cash value Of
their property. During the past ten
years rental value Of property, especi-
ally Main street, has advanced to near
~ double, that H. store houses that rea-
ted at $50 per annum will now readi. .
~ rent at 800 to 500 per annum, and
yet the taxable value Of the property
remains the same as it was ten years
ago. And again, the license tax is an
important item and should be looked
after carefully by the proper officers. q
Just here ! am reminded Of an inter
view with an ex-councilman who was
appointed with me to examine the ac-
counts Of the commissioner Of revenue. q
According to my judgment many Of the
.icense-taxes listed were eX ceedingly !
small in comparison with Others in the ]
same business. mentioned tony COM
mitteeman thata certain firm, of which q
he was a member, paid such a small
icense-tax, aud asked him if they real q
y did such small business, and only d
purchased annually amount called for a
1y taxes listed, and to my surprise the
gentleman said, No, they did not give G.
IN all of their purchases because other
parties doing the same business did
not do IT, II the taxpayers Of the
.oWn should adopt the rule laid down
lv this eX-cOuuciima- the town would ,
indeed reach "A depl0rab.e financial
condition. Again their are parties q
who live Just beyond the boundary q
line of our corporation VINO enjoy all %
he benefits of the town both socially
and financially, and pay nothing to-
ward the maintenance and support of Il
our corporation. / would strongly fay /
ir extending the corporate limits 30 "A. \