Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-11-16
Ratification Of the Water Board Agree
ment Opposed.

Editor of The Phoenix:
Can this village afford to sit down to
the repast the water board has offered
for next Monday evening? The PROPOSE
ton is to pay S2743OO for the Chestnut
Hill and Sunset Lake Water systems as
they stand today. The actual value Of
the former, or the cost today to dupli-
cate in efficiency, was reported July To-
1905. by Engineer Davis to be So, 1898.
Mr.. Davis's detailed estimates of the
cost of the Sunset Lake, Stickney and
Pleasant Valley brooks scheme. exactly
the one now proposed to buy, completed
was $125, 492.7S. 1t is now incomplete In
this: the reservoir in Pleasant Valley,
which he figured to cost s26,9S6.16, has
not been completed. the 2h miles, nearly,
of l6-inch pipe from the Saml Sargent
place to the town hall, figured in his
estimate at $29, 1920. is still unlaid. and
the $4T7750 for clearing UP flowed land,
channel and dam at Sunset Lake. Is not
completed, as are perhaps other things.
SO If the village buys now there would
be $50, 2.S6 to spend to complete that
system. What 1t would get would be
what figures at $643S9,S2 In the Davis
estimate, plus the $50, 1893 value of the
old system, or $146,S19.S5 in all, and for
it would pay $274.9OO, or a clear throw
away of $127,4sO15, If Davis was right.
do not care to see a second competing
system, II It can reasonably be avoided.
/ believe the village can AFFORD to pay
bonus of perhaps $4,000 to avoid 1t. and
in view of what Mr.. Crowell has done
and attempted we ought to be willing to
do this much for him, but when we null
tiply such bonus by 2h II seems to me
that we had better go slow. A simple
addition is sufficient to show where the
village would come out; our present
274,300, to complete Sunset Lake system
$50, O2S6 to overhaul and relay street
mains about $4,000. total 1915, 202S6 and
doubtless considerable more because of
increase in prices.
All engineers have agreed by their esti-
mates that a new and complete and
adequate system could be put in for less
than $225, 900. Still worse If II be true
as the water board told us a few weeks
ago, that the Sunset Lake water is
something we do not want at any price
And how about the Pleasant Valley
swamp? The result of the proposed pur-
chase will be a loss, except for water
damages of about $4,000 of what will
have cost the village some 5000. 900, and
then go somewhere else perhaps Halli-
day brook for water. This is what some
members of the water board argue. 1t
will mean a village debt for a complete
system of not less than $4250O0, or prac-
tically twice what II ought to be.
The one object of increasing our water
system is to get plenty of water for pub
lie and domestic use at lower rates, cor
responding to rates in other places, but
If this scheme goes through we are GER
tain there will be no reduction in rates
for long time. OF course we will be
told by some who have shown their con-
fidence in Davis by employing him that
his figures were not correct All we
voters can know about it is this: all
other engineers figures seem to agree
with him pretty closely and certainly we
are not justified in voting away SIPS, 900,
at least on the assumption that he was
wrong.
1t does seem that the only sure way
out of this dilemma will be to vote no
next Monday evening
OSCAR It. WARE