The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1911-04-13
CITY IS IN GOOD
FINANCIAL SHAPE
BROOklNGS IN EXCELLENT CON-
DlTlON TO BUILD A NEW
CITY HALL.
CITY DISCOUNTS ALL lis BILLS
Has a Surplus of Seventeen Thous-
and Dollars in Addition to Seven
Thousand on Interest.

ings city will be asked to decide whe-
Their the city shall issue bonds to the
amount of $4,000 for the construction
of a city hall and administration build
ing. Now the question naturally
arises, are we financially able to in
cur an Indebtedness to this amount?
The city of Brookings has never been
in better financial shape than it is
today, and We are fully able to con-
struct a city building in accordance
with cur needs and one that will be a
credit to the town.
No other city in the state, or adjoin
ing states for that matter, has made
the success with it's public utilities
what Bookings has. We WI and OPP
crate our own telephone, electric light
and waterworks system, and each is
turning in q handsome profit. This
profit is being used to pay off the bond
ed Indebtedness, incurred when they
were built, and to decrease the direct
taxation of the city, there being a
twenty-five per cent reduction in the
last year. The entire bonded indebt-
edness of the city will in time be paid
off by the profits of the different
plants, as at the present time they are
paying the interest on these bonds as
we'll as storing up a good surplus to
apply on the principal.
At the present time there is an in
d~ebtedness of $4,000 against the tele-
phone system, which cannot be paid
until July 1st., 1913, the date when
the bonds mature, but this plant has
in the bank $1,000, drawing five per
cent interest on time deposits, the
same interest that is paid on the
bonds. Inside of one veal this SUI
will easily total $4,000 the amount of
the plants bonded indt btedness. This
is a remarkable showing, when it is
considered that this plant paid off
$4,000 worth of its bonds less than
two years ago.
There is at present a surplus of
$S,463.S1 in the electric light plant
fund, and this plant, while not as big
a money maker as the telephone sys-
TEN, is making a nice profit every
month. Less than two years ago this
system paid of $4,000 worth of it's
bonds, and the present big surplus
shows what it is doing.
The total surplus of the different
departments at the preent time is
$17,24S.32, and this sum does not in
clude the $1,000 to the credit Of the
telephone plant On time deposit, and
adding this it will be seen that the city
has nearly $4,000 in ready cash on
hand. At the present time, and for
some time past, each department has
paid its bills in cash, thus getting a
liberal discount. Contrast this with
the situation seven or eight years ago,
when the city was paying seven per
cent interest on $4,000 worth Of out
standing warrants and let your W
judgment decide whether or not
is in a good financial condi-
ton.
The service furnished to the citizens
of Brookings by the different plants is
good if not better than furnished in
any other city in the country Of this
size, no matter whether the public
utilities are owned by private inter
tests or the municipality; and it is fur
as cheap, if not cheaper, than
in any city where steam power is
used for generating the electricity. Mu-
ownership has certainly paid
nd paid big, in Brookings.
In addition to furnishing excellent
at a very reasonable price the
city utilities have been responsible
for a decrease of twenty-five per cent
in the direct taxation for the last year,
in spite Of the fact that more money
has been expended upon crossings.
streets and other city i'm
provements than ever before.
Brookings has, or will have inside
Of one year, more and finer public
buildings than any other city in the
state, and we would like to ask the
citizens Of Brookings how many Of
these buildings they have built. Out
side OF the two school buildings the
taxpayers OF Brookings have not con-
tributed, except indirectly, to the con