The Wrangell sentinel., 1952-03-21


 maAng purposes at S25.aa0-
 Guaranteed the compar.
 return of six per cent on fGs
 investment after Federal and
 Territorial taxes.
 3 Granted tae company th.
 full amount Of rate iuareas.
 requested.
 Four For
 Voting f3. all threa aHa8as x separately and again as an ordiH- anee were C0anciImeo F. R. eouI- Ter. Charles Early. EaI BeaIz and George smith. Opposing all motions and the ordinance was Councilman Art Nelson Mayor Ve-n Smith was not required to vote and coan.a- man Joan c. Bangeman was in Petersburg in connection with his medical practice
 T#Ef of tbe ordinance. No ID. and the schedule of rates as am nouueed bg the phone company ef- feetiTe April l. may be found else where in today's paper
 Opening Tuesdays discussion. company Manager Douglas Starr of Juneau stated the company had re- considered and would not break is franchise with the city. as he had laid down in an ultimatum two weeks previous unless the rate iu- crease was granted
 Maybe in Fairbanks Office
 He then presented vouchers. ra- ceipts. cancelled checks. etc. in support of the company valuation figures totaling $l3,000 plus. This was some S20.0O0 short in substan- tiating evidence of the $33,0oO plus valuation the company had placed on the property in it's orig inal request for a hike in rates. Starr said he hadn't been able to go through all the records to pro igce full substantiating evidence. Te said he thought probably such information was in the Fairbanks office or possibly in the office of the company's auditors in the states
 Must Be The Freight
 After digesting this information and looking over the evidence as presented, Councilman Smith, after some figuring. came up with fig ure of $3,685 which he concluded might be represented by labor and freight. Nobody seemed to object to the Councilmau's figure, so it was decided to read City Attorney Howard Stabler's letter again. Starr had previously pointed out that he had helped with the Stab Ter letter in Juneau, and in fact had taken up some of the com panys business with Stabler and Accountant Chris Ehrendrich in Juneau
 Stabler's letter, among other things, said a subscriber or custom CT of a public utility such as the phone company, is not subject to rate increase to cover capital in vestment. Starr had previously told the Council that the new switch board costing for the local unit some $3,000, is a capital invest ment and one of the reasons the rates had to be raised 10 show a profit. Stabler's letter also said a utility company was entitled to a reasonable return on it's invest ment.
 "Informap Says Starr
 Meanwhile, Corporation Manager Starr, sitting at the Mayors right, declared the meeting to be "infor- mal," the Mayor not objecting, and said he had put a stop order on dial telephones, at least until the rate issue was settled He reported informally" to the public council meeting that the dial system was going to cost $40,OOO. He said the company grossed around 1.200 month under the present rates and expected to step it up to $1,400 a month under the new rates.
 Nelson Voted "No"
 After some more kicking the ball around, Councilman Nelson moved not to accept the company's re- quest There was no second. There upon Councilman Beals moved to accept a rate base of $25,000 as the company's valuation and drew quick second from Councilman Smith. The roll was called with Smith, Beals. Coulter and Early for and Councilman Nelson mo" Councilman Smith then moved the company be allowed a return of six per cent on it's investment and l Councilman Coulter seconded. pointing ort he was tired and wanted to go home.
 The roll was called with the