Court Opinion

ID: 5448843
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-08 18:15:48.220892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:32:18.298005
License: Public Domain

BEATTY, C. J.,
dissenting. I think the judgment and order appealed from should be affirmed. In fixing water rates, it is the duty of the city council to provide for a just and reasonable compensation to the water company. Anything short of that is simple confiscation, and is not only a violation of constitutional rights but is an extremely short-sighted policy. Bates ought to be adjusted to the value of the service rendered, and this means that the water companies should be allowed to collect annually a gross income sufficient to pay current expenses, maintain the necessary plant in a state of efficiency, and declare a dividend to stockholders equal to at least the lowest current rates of interest, not on the par or market value of the stock, but on the actual value of the property necessarily used in providing and distributing the water to consumers.
To arrive at the actual value of the plant, water rights, real estate, etc., cost is an element to be considered, but is not conclusive. The plant may have cost too much, it may have been planned upon too liberal a scale, its construction may have been 'extravagantly managed, tire real estate and water rights may have cost less or more than their present value, and, therefore, cost will seldom represent the actual capital at present invested in the works, but such present value is the true basis upon which compensation, in the shape of dividends, is to be allowed.
As to current expenses, all operating expenses reasonably and properly incurred should be allowed, taxes should be allowed, and the cost of current repairs.
In addition to this, if there is any part of the plant, such as main pipes, etc., which at the end of a term of years—twenty years, for instance—will be so decayed and worn out as to require restoration, an annual allowance should be made for a sinking fund sufficient to replace such part of the plant when it is worn out.
In its findings and conclusions the superior court seems to have conformed to these views, and, making every allowance for any minor errors that may appear in the record, the evidence is amply sufficient to sustain every material finding, and the find*589ings clearly sustain tbe conclusion that in this case tbe nates fixed were grossly and palpably unjust to tbe water company. Tbe judgment and order should be affirmed.