Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1916-10-04

usements, the schedule nss been app,ovsd
~ the commission.
oeneeding that you have, a. the iav re-
aaifss you 10 DO. died your sckeduls Of rates
WIN the commission, do not understand
'nss sne commission has had any opportunity
syes to have . hearing or 70 rive formal
consideration to the matter OF determipiss
whether the rates ere reasonable and inst In
your letter you say; II know Of no hearing
"nien' mp to the present time, has seRreeated
the business Of the water depsrtmen,s ~ A..
Ssf hsrbor Union River Power Co. from IL
other branches" Yet. You say. refe,rin, n
your water rates In your newspaper adyer-
easements, These rates and rules have been
approved by the Public Utilities Commission
VI Maine.' This istter quotation IL . mis-
statement OF fact, and your publication Of the
same constitutes deliberate attempt to de-
eeive the public.
i wish TO address myself TO the matter Of
your taxation in Ellsworth. The assessed
valuation on the tax books Of your property
In this city to-day is tsis,25o. From . casual
examination Of the financing Of your COM
pany, II would seem that this tax assessmen Mt
10 low.
II Is my understanding that at the begin
ming OF the current year there were issued
ana outstanding So interest bearing bonds
OF the Bar Hsrbor a Union River Power Co.
IS follows: ssos,ooo in the hands Of the pub
lie; es7s-ooo pledged as security for Bangor
Railway \ Electric Co. bonds; $4,000 owned
by Bangor Railway & Electric Co., and $4,000
held In the treasury Of thel Bar Harbor 4
Union River Power Co. This makes a total
Of ss7s,ooo in bonds actually issued. on which,
! understand, your company has been paying
Ssc interest
In addition to this, si.o24.ooc in bonds has
been authorized by your company, sioo 900 Of
which, when issued, Is to retire o like amoa Mt
OF bonds Of the Bar Harbor Electric Light
Co., and the remainder to be issued against
bettermeuts. extensions, etc. Il also appears
that your company has issued capital stock
OF the par value Of 81 900 900, $500 900 Of which
IL ea cumulative preferred stock and s7oo,o
common. am not aware what the company
Is paying in dividends.
In view of the valuation which you must
have placed on this property In order to
issue bonds In the sum OF &g76, 000-for GER
tainiy good banking would require . million
and half In actual valuation to secure ss7s-
ooo In bonds issued and outstanding-you
should congratulate yourself that the tax
assessors OF Ellsworth were 80 fair with you
and let you down easy, when taking into
the large amount Of property
In Ellsworth which stands behind this bond
issue.
With regard to the taxation OF the water
system AS unit, 1t appears from the tax
books that the assessed valuation placed
iheseon, including real estate, pumping sta |
tion. water mains, etc, 10 10000. l wonder
II your company would be willing to concede
that the fair value OF the water system, in
GLIDING its rights and plant as going con-
cern. Is as low rs sso.oG0-twice the valuation
that the tax assessors have placed thereonf
II - my guess, IL the matter of the reason |
abteness OF your water charges comes before
the Public Utilities Com ission for formal
as IL will in due course, that you
viii seek to place q valuation on the system
about four umes as great rs the valuation for
taxation purposes placed thereon by this
city.
The city OF Ellsworth has for years kept
your taxes down much lower than they
should have been. This is our mistake, for
now that your taxation has been raised to
the valuation where II belongs, you are turn
ing against the water-users of Ellsworth and
putting up our rates. This Is like biting the
b nd that has fed you.
lam sending a copy Of this letter to THE
AMERICAN.
Yours truly.
FULTON J. REpMAs.