The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1915-05-07

Whctnef they want municipal or pr
yate ownership Of the water works
The rates 10 be charged ana the rev
enue the city might derive from !
franchise or city owned plant would
certainly enter largely Into the de-
cisiop Of the voters
Time for Vote Ample.
TT the voters should decide they
want n city owned plant and DO OF
do not want 20 purchase the present
plant, then the question OF a bond
ia9ue could he voted on Of the next
general city election and II the con-
struction Of a new system - neces-
sary II could be Installed and ready
for USE by the time the present fran
chise expires.
yours respectfully.
Company Expenditures.
President McNflllon In the course Of
his address 90 the council produced
a statement showing that since the
Rifle report. which was made March
!. 1905, the company had put into the
plant In the way Of new cohstruc-
tion for extension Of mains. new
hydrants. new wells. new pumping
PinhNt hNNNAat w. u N"hai OF FAf'f
ft6.96.
when asked as 10 the valuation
fixed for assessment he stated that the
valuation was fixed By the assessor
az s22s. 600. 90, and that the amoui..
OF taxes for 1914 was the sum of
Ss.66G.s0. Mr.. McMillen stated that
he was In nj way responsible for the
old franchise. as that was grant A
about the time he came 10 A~lbuqaer-
que. when Mr.. Grant was the wner
Of the property and Il was we'll
known that u had never proved a
profitable investment for Mr.. Grant;
that there were n great many provi-
sions In the old franchise thai wer's
uncertain ana led 20 confusion AMI
controversy. and especially that u
was not fair TO the smaller consumer
Rs compared TO the large consumers.
He also stated that in drawing the
proposed franchise he had In mind
particularly the putting OF the small
consumer upon exactly the SAM
basis as the large consumer, 80 that
they would get water at the same
rate: and also that the fran3hlse
should be 80 plain that ths-e could
be no mistake as to its meaning.
TOO IIigii,' says Hughes.
Tho city clerk told MIR. McMilon he
thought that the charges TO the city
were too high. Mr.. McMIiiea laugh
ingiy said that he might think the
city clerk was getting too much sel-
AIRY or that the merchants were maxi
Ing too much money. at least no
sometimes felt that way at the end Of
the month when he came TO pay tho
bills.
When asked about the cost Of hy-
drants elsewhere Mr.. McMilicn stated
he had a list OF all the cities that
take hydrants from private corpora
tions, which involved some So or 20
scattered throughout the Unit
ed states, and that the average ny
drant rental paid by cities elsewhere
S3S.2 while under the proposed
franchise the city was TO pay $500
per hydrant.
City's BHI VIII Increase.
The question was asked II the
bin Tor water would not In
crease with the growth OF the city.
Mr.. McMillen answered that IL IN
doubtedly would, but II was only fair
the city should pay for what Il
received. and as the city grew Il had
more taxable property with which TO
pay. and that It's expenses in every
increased from year to year
with the growth OF the city. IL was
made clear from the discussion OF
Mr.. McM1ien hat the city could not
have free water and ut the same time
have cheap rates for consumers. lie
that there was no such thing
ms free water;" Il cost money TO
produce Il and someone had to pay
for Il. and II the city did not pay Il.
Il naturally would fall upon the con
sumers TO pay for IL. aud that Il was
not fair to make the small consum-
prs pay the bills which were properly
chargcable against the city: that all
for hydtant rentals. water
for sprinkiing the streets. and
for the parks, public water fountairs,
etc, were for public purposes, which
be borne by public expense,
and II was only fair that non-resl-
dent owners OF property and other
AAAhf HNNH'AAN tNh'AH EAAhAAh h'Ah
proportion OF that expense by
instead OF making the small
Pr consumer pay at increased rates
IL was apparent That this met the
OF the consumers, while the city
council naturally were looking for
OF c~urtailing city expenses,
Favors small Users.
Mr.. MeMillen stated that the pro-
posed water rates to the small o
sumers, which constituted about 90
per cent OF all the consumers OF wator
In the city. were more favorable thaa
could be found anywhere in the
country where similar conditions ca
either In privately owned water
or publibly owned water
works, and proceeded to compare the
proposed franchise with Roswell and
El Paso charges, both OF which have
municipal ownership. He presented
the rates charged by Roswell. which
that the minimum charge
was 81 per month, for which
vas entitled 10 receive
1000 gallons, and proceeded TO show
that under the proposed franchise
now until 1918 a consumer In
Albuquerque. II he left his service on
without using water, would pay but
cents while at Roswell the charge