Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-06-05
COUNTY Incorporation.

Although the QueSIion VI
of Alexandria limits is quietly resting
i tho hands of the General Laws and
Finance Committee of City Council ana
.ho ,ono summer recess is at hand
without any possibility of its being
given any impetus. agencies are al
work in the county that may retard
tho movement, if it finally passes the
gauntlet Of our local lawmakers.
In the following editorial the Alex
andris County Monitor suggests that
the steps be taken to have the county
incorporated.
The repeated agitation for the lncor-
potatiou OF more thickly settled com
n,nnities in this county in order that
thsse communities may have water
snnnlv and sewer system will event
nallv prove successful if some steps are
not taken to incorporate the county as
whole into city OF the hrst class
The pressing needs Of the more thickly
settled communities demand that some
,ct;on he taken TO prevent the posi-
Iility Of epidemics which must come
in the future through the contamina'
t;on az water supply it the present
methods Of sewage disposal are allowed
70 continue for the future, and pro,
a,oss;ve citizens Of Clarendon and
Ra,ls,on are disposed to meet the sltua-
ton in an aggressive manner and TO
solve this difficult problem for them
selves in some way. II the connSy
form Of government is prevented by
,be ls.s of the state from giving TO
,hssa communities sidewalks and from
;rstallinp a water service Tor the
co.ntv and no steps are taken to
remedy this condition there is nothing
left bnt the incorporation OF the more
,h;,llv settled communities into towns
with the power to levy additional taxes
for internal Improvements.
Ia, there are arguments against the
incarceration of the smaller towns. IN
the first place the court VIII IN all
probability refuse to incorporate such
towns unless the present county levies
rsn,ain as they are for county pur'
noses and the state levy can not be
changed, so that any revenues 10 oe
nsed for the internal improvement OF
,h.se towns will have to be raised by
on additional levy on the real estate
and announcements within the limits OF
~ ,n,.ns And an increase in the
rota of assessment within these towns
!, likely to stagnste the developments
of these particular communities, while
tie revenues raised from such addi-
tional levy would be SO small that n"
real good would come Of II, which
wonlI counterbalance the effects OF
the higher levy. Again, such towns
would have difficulty in dispoSing OF
bonds for public works. The lnstalla.
ton OF a water supply system IN one OF
these small towns would be but
n,ateshift at the best and within the
ney, FIVE wears would be entirely obso
lete and replaced by the water supply
=, tho CITY which will be Incorporated
here within that time.
The incorporation of the county Us a
whole however possesses many adrant-
,oes-and some few disadvantages. In
ne first place il the: county could be
i6corpora,ed as city of the first class
under what is practically commission
form of government, with the comm'S-
sioners chosen at large from the entire
,ouuty-thus doing away with ward
lines or with district lines-and these
commissioners paid an adequate salary
for their Services--gettlng away also
from the Incompetence so often found
in common councils and boards OF
aldermen in the cities OF tins state, the
county would Their be in position to
purchase tract Of land at the highest
poiut in this county, say Livingstone
Heights, for reservoir purposes, and
install pumping station at some point
about Little Falls From the reservoir
located at Livingstone Heights which Is
about four hundred and fifty feet above
sea level gravity would furnish all OF the
pressure needed to bring this water 10
communities like Ballston. Clarendon.
Fort Myer Heights, ana hoSSiSn' on
one large main. and to Cherrydale.
Dominion Heights and Park Lane on
another. The main from Ballston could
be extended down to Arlington and II
necessary into the thickly settled por-
ton OF jefferson District. Bonds issued
nv the couuty-incorporated as city
would he readily sold because they
would have behind them the credit OF
the entire county, and water service
once given to the county would soon
retire the bonds in the funds received
As water rent, i'll charges made for IN
Sailing the service into houses, ana N
the large increased value OF real estate
made possible by the installation OF an
electric plant.
The disadvantage found in lncorpor-
ating the couaty as whole Is the tact
ia, tn Sc who reside on the outlying
go .-,,y settled portions ~ the