Imperial Valley press., 1932-02-18
CITY ENGINEERS REPORT SHOWS
Ell CENTRIC IN GOOD CONDITION

Knights, city engineer. The
Press herewith presents the
first of a series of articles con-
tanning a synopsis of the re-
port. Others will be published
during the next several days,
Ell Centro as a $14, ,184.126 cor
/ poration operating at a total cost
amounting to only 2754 per cent
of its own value and on a sound
! business and financial basis
effected little by current business
/ conditions, was pictured last night
/ in a semi-annual report submitted
/ to the city council by Phil Knights,
city engineer.
The 34-page typewritte., feport.
covering a period ION July / to
December l, lssi. briefly sum-
marized PRACTICALLY every import
ant oranch of city government,
listing facts and figures to prove
The Soundness of Ell Centros fl
nancial condition and paying de-
tailed attention to the engineering
department.
Facts of most vital interest to
every taxpayer and resident of Ell
Centro showed the city in
healthy condition, with all bills
paid, the cost of government law,
the bonded Indebtedness one-third
OF the city's capacity, and suffi-
cient funds left in the treasury to
meet any ordinary emergency.
knights report listed for dis
cuSsion unemployment, municipal
expenditures, the trend of munich
pal thought, taxes and tax reduc-
tions, special assessments, COM
parative costs of municipal gov
ernmentS, building, city planning
and zoning, street lighting, sewers,
departments under the city engi-
neer, other city departments in
their relation to the engineers Of
flee, and ended with closing
comment.
In letter to the city council,
accompanying the report, knights
said, the ideas and comment
herein expressed are my personal
views and are not intended to
commit any member of the coun-
Gil or any departmental official to
such ideas or policies. These views
are expressed for the councils in
formation and to acquaint the
members with the thought of the
city engineer regarding municipal
adrniniStra ton"
Prepares for Bond Issue
Explaining the detail of the re-
port, he said: II have gone into
considerable detail and comment
at this time to show the financial
and general condition of the city,
as I thought it important this in
formation be. presented in advance
of the proposed sewer bond
election
Perhaps one of the most start
ling and at the same time most
encouraging statements in the re-
port was that, while total per
capita collections in Ell Centro
from all sources during the past
fiscal year was S3785, fixed bond
or tax charges are represented by
S1208, and S11.74 represents in
come from sources other than
taxes, such as fines, permits and
water collections, leaving a per
capita balance of s14.o3 as being
the sum total of reducible taxes.
Fixed bond charges cannot be
reduced, and revenue from sources
other than taxes serve to reduce
the tax rate accordingly.
These figures, taken from city
records, were listed under the gen.
eral discussion of taxes and tax
reductions. AS a preamble to the
figures, the city engineer said:
While the payment of taxes has
always been a source of complaint,
it is during times of depression,
reduced earning power and unem-
ployment that the question OF
taxes comes particularly under the
critical eye of the taxpayer, and