Imperial Valley press., 1933-01-07
Continued From Page II

putting it III fofm that Will MAKE
payment less difficult.
i These new bonds will not be sold
j They are simply TO be traded Oh
exchanged, bond for bond, for the
present outstanding bonds and
when the old bonds come in, in ex-
+ change for the new ones, the ole
ones will be cancelled and retired
! We want TO make this point very
clear, that not a dollar OF addition
al obligation is being placed upon
F the community.
A part of the financial affairs
Of an irrigation district are un-
+ der the control of the board of di-
rectors to a certain extent. The
other part is entirely beyond their
control, and the part that is Who'll
/ " beyond the control of the board
/ IS that part that has to do with
! the payment of the district debts
! These obligations are fixed by law
and the board has no discretion
concerning their payment. In other
words the board has some measure
of control over that part of the
district revenue used for operation
and maintenance, but it has no
control over that part referred to
as fixed charges or the fixed le-
gal obligations of the district.
The amount of money normally
required to operate and maintain
the system in our district is ap-
proximately Sl,90O,000 a year. Ap-
pfoximately this amount of money
should be used every year in order
to keep the system in operation
in the most economical and eff
cient manner and the system had
been so operated since 1922, when
it was taken over from the mutual
water companies, until 1880. When
the depression came on the canal
system was in excellent condition.
Otherwise the retrenchment that
has taken place would have been
impossible.
Expenses Reduced
No one knew in 1890 how SER
ious the depression was or would
become, but the board of directors
at that time recognized the diff
Guilty and for the year 1881 arbi-
trarily reduced maintenance and
operation cost by approximately
100000. AS we said before, this
was not economy, but was regard
ed as a necessity. By the end OF
1881 the seriousness of the de-
pressed conditions became more
evident and the board made fur
ther Productions of approximately
S5O0O00 for 1882. The operation of
the system, therefore, for 1882 cost
approximately 100000 less than
normal. This sort of extreme re-
trenchment cannot, of course, go
on indefinitely but with the canal
system in good condition when the
depression started, the district has
been able to operate with this de-
creased expenditure and continue
to deliver water. The only part of
this retrenchment that actually
represents a saving to the assess
ment payers and water users is
reduction in salaries which the dis
trict employees have all taken
The balance must eventually be
made up in putting the canal sys-
tenn back in the good condition II
was in prior to the depression but
for the time being those monies
have been saved, or, more accu-
rately, they have not been expend-
ed.
We mention these things simply
to point out that of the revenue
for operation and maintenance the
board has some measure of con-
troll, not so with the revenue fol-
fixed charges.
The law expressly provides that
the board shall annually levy as
sessments upon the lands suffi-
cient to raise the amounts of mon-
ey required to meet the fixed OBJ
ligatons. If the board would refuse
to make this levy they can be
forced by court order to comply
with the statute and make the le-
VieS.
Mexican Revenue Drops
Now we have this situation: The
Mexican revenue has dropped off
from approximately S550,000 per
year, on the average, to about S70,-
600. This is about half enough &C.
tually to meet the Mexican pay
roll, to say nothing of other char
ges and obligations. The normal
assessment delinquency in the dis
trict is about Is per cent. A year
ago December the delinquency was
mere than 80 per cent and last July
it was approximately so per cent.
The exact figures for this last De-