Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-01-17
CLAIM FOR ovGRchARee NJ
TRowEL COMPANY pREc,p,.
TArEs DISCUSSION.
COUNCIL MEMBERS FAVOR.
REVISION IMMEDIATELY
Claim All Services In the City Should
Do Mstsrsd, and Rs4e Reduced to
Minimum Above Cost o. Pumping
Mayor says City 10 Charging Too
Much.

| for q refund OF 3186.s3 for alleged
|overcharge for water covering a period
Of a number OF months. with a formal
demand that the bill be allowed, the
Marshaltown Trowel Company may
have started something" unintention-
ally. When the bill came up before the
council Monday night 1t precipitated a
dormant sentiment that brought a
clamor from some quarters for the
mererlng OF the entire water service Of
the city and revision Of all water rates.
Not all Of the councilmen expressed
themselves. but the majority OF those
who did are hot for a revision and the
the emphatic backing Of the mayor
No definite action was taken, but the
bill was referred to the water works
committee. with instructions to report
at next Monday nights meeting.
Wants Immediate Revision.
The mayor restated what he has
previously said regarding the revision
Of the water rates and placing meter
on all services in the city, and added
that 1t ought to be done at once. "The
city is collecting too much for its wa
ter" he declared. and said that the
council should ascertain the exact cost
of putting the water into the mains at
the city pumping station. and with tina,
as basis, proceed TO readjust the
rates He was not prepared to say just
what that adjustment should be In de-
tail, but he appeared confident that
II the subject were studied that the
proper revision could be made.
Others Want It.
Both Gregory and McCarten were
also in favor Of revision, as was also
Good. but Clark. who is chairman Of the
waterworks committee, saw all kinds
Of obstacles in the way. most Of which
have been the outgrowth Of the presen.
system, which has become firmly
fixed habit. BY 1t some institutions
pay nothing for their water Some
large users get one rate and Some an
other. A large number OF the services
have had meters attached. Clerk Wiley
said the number was 1886, and f. z.
Mack estimated that it would require
800 more to complete the metering Of
all services.
There was a sentiment evident In
the council that there should be no
free water. that all should pay some
49, w PSA4NS'iS 1iOll Si1S huAO0IS QScu
or for other reasons, but that the rate
should be barely above the cost Of sup
plying the water.
Little is Known Of Rates.
AS matter Of fact the more the in
formal discussion developed the more
the council appeared in ignorance of
vice, and other details 1t is likely
that the hill Of no al
may develop revision and new meth
DDS for the entire system.
Returning to the direct cause, the
bill the trowel company alleged in its
resolution for the allowance of the bill,
that the amount represented what it
had paid over a rate of cents per
1000 gallons, such as other man
ufacturers are paying.
Mayor Hands Out One.
While discussing the bill Mayor In
gledue said that he knew Of no fac
tories that were getting a scent rtae,
excepting in those cases where the
city. for commercial reasons. had en-
new industries by giving
them a scent rate for FIVE years and
a guaranteed valuation for tax assess
ments. IT'S pretty far fetched" said
the mayor. "for the Marshalltown
Trowel Company to come in here with
a bill Of that kind. II that concsrn is
so small and picayunish az to raise OBJ
jections to that method Of encouraging
new factories. the sooner we get rid OF
It the better"
Mack claims that there are 50 many
leaks in its pipes and that the COM
pany's service is so inadequate that
those are the chief reasons why its
water meter shows more water used
than it would II the service was re-
built and the leaks stopped.