The daily morning oasis., 1920-01-11
Sunday Morning, January II, 1920.
MEASUREMENTS AND FALLACIES
BY BOND OPPONENTS

In their 'buttonhoe campaign against the bond is
sue opponents crying that the city will have means
for meeting the interest the proposed issue without
resort to taxation Yet is easily demonstrated that
the interest will be met readily from the present nan
cial conditions. Let us anayze a blt
The proposed bond issue of $355O00 at 512 per cent
per annrm will require the of $40 52500 annually
for interest.
Ninety-three thousand dollars of the proposed bond
issue is Indebtedness that not funded now but will be
funded when the bonds voted issued and sold That
represented by certificates of Indebtedness held
by the First National Bank and the Nogales National
Bank. That indebtedness bears interest at eight per
cent per annum. There $4,000 Of the interest
the proposed bond issue will bearMore than forty per
cent Now then, where will the remaining sixty per
cent be got? By the saving in upkeep'o Morley Ave
and Grand Avenue when those two streets are paved
which will be done just the new water mains
are laid The street department reports that the cost
of upkeep of amounts to about 900 per ann
of which large part expended upon the two ave-
nues named Outside of those two streets most No
gales thooughfares hills each side of the ground
traversed by the two avenues The hill ground is bed
roccuts very little in storms and does not have to be
watered and dragged constantly. But on Grand and
Morley Avenues the road drag works all night every night
in the week. 1t is calculated that the work on those
two avenues costs about Is per cent of the entire sum
expended for street work. That is $18 10000 With
he two paved the cost Of keeping them up
will be reduced by about $15,00000 Say it would cost
$5000per anntm for upkeep There would be $l3750
saved Add that to the s744o saved interest upon
the floating debt and the sum is $21 10000 or $1665oo
But that is not all: The $4,000 floating indebted
pays interest at eight per cent per annum Every
six months that interest is computed and added to the
principal In other words the $4,000 are out at eight
per cent compounded semi annually In that way 1920
added to the principal every six months which is $44O
for the year By this time next year the $4,000 will
grow to 100000 The floating Indebtedness has
grown about $4,000 within the past two years. being in
terest compounded the debt left by the former coun
Gil; and it is growing all the time Would there be al
saving in stopping that compound interest at eight per-
tit11tn ar
Any schooboy who has got beyond the interest chapters
in his arithmetic can tell you it would make saving
Another point made is when one of the "buttonhole
campaigners' asks, triumphanty; "Why don't the City
Council pay part of that $4,000 Indebtedness with some
$4,000 in hand the books show the City treasurer is
carryng?" The answer to that is that part of the
$4,000 about $21 900 is the sinking fund provided by
law to meet the bonds issued to pay for the first munich
pal water system installed The rest is current funds
to meet running expenses of the city.
And right here it is admissible to assert that the
present council is the first which has provided sink
ing fund to meet those bonds at maturity. Its prede
went along without providing anything toward
sinking fund.- and ran the town deeply in debt beside
The present council has la!d IN unsettled debt (by lt
meaning claims against the town which had not been q-
Undated by issuing vrans), of ABOUT sl4 00O and
ed sinking fund ct $2 0 without any increase IN the
rate of taxation
There is another place where there will be saving
by enarging the municipal water plant laying new MAINS
ETC.. Tint viii be the saving in having plant that
will do the work without straining the machinery sub
ectng to constant breakage costing for repairs,
fuel etc. The present ten inch main between the pump
ing plant and the reservoir in town is utterly inadequate
for the service demanded higher and more expen-
sive Of pressure has to be maintained keep the
needed supply coming meet present wants and needs
That cannot be reduced to figures but it is decided item
Very sapiently the opposition newspaper asks why
s32OO should be expended to enlarge water plant that
has cost 900 already? Why should railroad buy
and locomotives to meet the needs of constant
ly growing traffic? Why should printing office buy
type and presses to add to its equipment already in
use in to the needs of business offered in
growing town? All are preparing to meet the growth
that Nogales is enjoying and destined to enjoy Every