Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-10-21
SUPERVISOR POINTS OUT PRECISELY
WHY TAX INCREASE PLAN Is FAULTY
Discussing Bond Issue Proposals. Logan Shows Necessity for
Raising Funds at 0nce-TaIk of SIush Fund and Politics
He Declares Simply Contemplate Chronic Opposition
to City Government Suggestions is 0eCried

assessed valuation each year. the leg
islaturs with its Characteristic treat
ment Of the counties has enacted one
half Of one per cent as the limit. On
this PORT | wish to emphasize Judge
Hatchs declaration. namely:
las a taxpayer. and ! am !
speaking as a taxpayer. I adVo-
" cate matching every dollar raised
By bonds by another raised by an
increased tax rate until the emcr-
F.. gency needs have been met
Chronic Opposition ...
Most Of the opposition clamor | at
tribute TO the vicious habit of deriving
anything originating with. the city
government II is right enough when
there is cause for it. hut otherwise it
is simply acting the part of the pro
verbal dirty bird that fouls its own
nest Nearly all the public IMPROVE
ments made or patrOniZed by the ter
ritorial government are paid for with
loan funds Both congress and the
Legislature have granted the counties
borrowing powers, and to block the
exercise thereof is a poor way OF tes-
tifying confidence in the wisdom OF
those august bodies. "
To describe the interest charges as
total waste is tantamOunt to denOunc-
Ing the whole political and CONNER
ciaf worlds as agglomerations OF fools.
Estimates of that cost made by null
tiplying the numL-r of years in the
maximum life of the bonds by the rate
of interest do not reveal either knoWl-
edge or intelligence. Besides being
redeemable in five years the bonds
may be purchased by the city i'll the
open market at any time when money
therefor is available in the sinking
fund lin excess of the amount needed
for the redemption of bonds then re-
deemable.,' The sinking fund in the
meantime may be ''fattened" from
any balance in the general fund not
required for current obligations.
Besides the enormous saving OF
revenue to the city from the wiping
out of maintenance expense by per-
manent construction on the belt road,
which I showed the AID Club, the saw
ing in wear and tear of automobiles
to their owners would be computable
only by thousands monthly. III.
"contemptibIe Suggestions :"-
Suggestions Of political motives and
insinuations Of "slush fund" are simp-
~ contemplate: The present move,
ment for a bond Issue was first moot
ed by q prominent businessman or
Honolulu while accompanying the
mayor and supervisors on an inspec-
ton trip over the belt road more than
a year ago. This citizen was so i'm
pressed by the magnitude of the Ell
forts to close up the bad stretches of
that highway with mediumly durable
cCnstruction-the. best that the cur
rent revenues allowed-that he de-
clared it was folly to think OF complet-
ing the task successfully without re-
sorting to the issuance OF bonds like
every city and county in California.
Judge Hatch states the fact as we all
see it, that the present board VIII
not see dollar of the loan II it is
authorized at the plebiscite.. Los An
geles county, California, voted high
way bond issue Of $3,5o0,000 on July
80. 1908, but money from the sale OF
the first block of the good roads
bonds" as they were called, only be-
came available in February, 1909. -"
IF the Bond Plan Fails ~-
Mr.. Philosophical and Progressive
Citizen: -
If the bond issue proposals are re-
jected, systematic sewer extension in
Honolulu must be indefinitely post
poned. This means danger of appal-
ing epidemics and intervention OF fed
eral military authorities,
Also, the completion of permanent,
construction of the belt road will be
left to hand-to-mouth financing, with
prolongation of wasteful maintenance
expenses. Like the weakest link in
the chain. moreover, every mile OF
bad road in that thoroughfare means
a handicap to both the tourist business
and the. commercial interests OF the
island ~ -
Also, rejection of the proposals in
wolves the loss of an opportunity
never to return for acquiring, at mod
crate prices, valuable park sites and
means for making efficient and decent
the only public bathing place on the
ocean front. "A time will come, and
that soon. when the women of Homo
lulu will Join with the men of right
social and civic perceptions in de-
manding that there shall be more
parks and Fairgrounds, together with
modern betterment of those already
owned, and that demand will have to
be complied with, but it will be at a
cost with which the 100000 now ask
ed will appear an inconsiderable trifle.