Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-19
STATISTICS SHOW
WASTE OF SYSTEM
City Of Omaha, with Privately owned
Electric Lights, Gets Service
at Much Less Cost Than
Lincoln
snocla1 TO The Herald.

| Special TO The Herald.
| OMAHA, Neb., March 1S-A clean.
cut issue between municipal ownership
and private ownership of city lighting
| has been raised here by the report
which Professor G. r. Richards and G.
| II. Morse have just made on the
Lincoln municipal lighting plant. Con-
sidered from all directions and includ-
| ing all amounts which two trained dis
interested statisticians say should be
charged the Lincoln street lighting
costs the city S9sS4 for each arc light
in use.
In Omaha, where a private corpora
tion has the lighting contract, fiat
rate of $75 per arc light is made. And
from this SIS rate there are certain
reductions because of taxes and royal
ty which bring the cost of the Omaha
lights to only about so per cent Of the
Lincoln municipal lights.
Lincoln and Omaha, only fifty miles
apart, have practically the same freight
rate on coal, wages are practically the
same and other conditions governing
business are so similar as to be the
therefore, can be compared between
Omaha and Lincoln probably better
than between any other two cities in
the country.
Statistician Makes Report
The report made by Profs. Richards
and Morse is in part as follows:
"In order to obtain the annual cost
to the city of owning and operating
it's own electric light plant, taking into
account all financial features involved,
the following estimate has been made:
Interest on bonds, Az per cent on
$65, 900, $2925; interest on cash cost
(SS7 ,3O2.9) of plant, less $65,000 at b
per cent, $1115.15; depreciation and re-
pairs at 10 per cent, $S730; coal. $S175.6O;
oil and waste, $275; packing, $7S; mis-
cellaneous. $50; carbons' $4S1;l2; arr. arc
globes, $21S.6S; office supplies, $14;
water at Is cents per 1000 gallons, $3.50;
pay roll $7511.46; taxes at IN mills per
81, S64577; fire insurance at per cent
on $4,000, $640; boiler insurance, $500;
franchise tax, $100 per annum; plus
per cent on estimated gross income of a
private plant, $500. Total, $32, ,519.OS.
"The taxes which figure in the above
are those that the city would receive
from a private company doing tne
lighting and which are therefore lost
through the city's operations.
Suffers by Comparison
"The figure just found is for S29 arc
lamps operating all night, every night,
and also includes the small quantity
of incandescent lighting. The effect
of the latter is negligible. We there
fore have as the total cost per arc
lamp per annum, $9S.S4."
In Omaha the privately owned COM
pany has a rate to the city of $75 per
light per annum, all night. The nights
are the same length as at Lincoln, so
the time of burning is the same. Water
costs the same; coal practically the
same as at Lincolni labor wages the
same at both places.
In the matter of taxes on the Omaha
plant in 1905 the company paid, city
taxes, $19.412. In addition the city re-
ceived $10,500 royalty from the light
ing company. Only a portion of the
city taxes, $19,412, would have been re-
mitted if the plant had belonged to
the city, hence only a portion of that
amount should be deducted from the
SIS for each light.
But the royalty of 8 per cent on the
gross receipts, which goes to the city
as a part of the lighting contract, re-
duces the cost per light to $50 per year.
In addition, that portion of the city
taxes charged on the lighting plant
still further reduces the cost, making
the net result saving of nearly so
per cent on the privately owned plant
over the municipality owned one.