ow Accepted But
'pposition Exists
I years there has
1 controversy
Kinston’s dec
plant . That’s
has had -a
beginning there
ometimes.bit
and prae
Ownership. On;
tlcipal own
ended. Today,
' plant is in bet
. t ever before in
oth from the me
Ity to generate elec
tricity and from the general ac
ceptance of its continued oper
ation by the city. \
This state of. acceptance by the
majority has, of course, been ne
cessary from the beginning to
make possible the approval of
three and one half million dol
lars in bonds for the addition
of new generating equipment and
additions to the building in which
the plant is housed.
The principle bone of conten
tion insofar as city ownership
is concerned stems from the ar
gument: Does the city provide
service comparable to private
ctimpanies at a price in line with
that being charged by other sel
lers of electricity in this imme
diate area?
Perhaps the only yardstick for
service comparison comes in the
number and length of periods
during which power is off for
one reason or another, in this
respect, contrary to opinions of
many local individuals, the Kin
ston record stands extremely
for the past several years—
this during a period of ma
r construction. There is every
son to presume that the
wer off? record of Kinston
' be even better nOw with
cifton and renovation
over for a period.
The price comparison is more
difficult, but it is obvious that
the Kinston plant operates at a
profit far above that of private
power generators In this area. It
is obvious for several reasons:
First, the property taxes in Kin
ston are less than the debt serv
ice Item in the current budget
and since the million dollar plus
budget Is balanced it is more
than apparent that a good-sized
piece of change Is picked up from
some other source and that the
only other major source of in
come the city has Is the Income
from its utilities.
Kinston’s electric power plant
does operate at a profit. There’s
no getting around this fact. But
if the people of the community
had rather pay higher property
taxes the electricity rate can be
pulled down at any time.
In the end the profit-making
prices for electricity In Kinston
are only another type of tax
ation. Many will argue that it
is an unjust tax but there are
other arguments that point to
ward it being an even fairer tax
than a real estate tax. Study a
few: Consider the transient
Kinston resident, who lives here
for a few months or a few years.
He owns no property, pays no
city tax. Yet his children go to
school, he needs fire protection,
police protection, health depart
ment service streets to ride on,
his trash and garbage have to
be collected just as well as that
of the biggest tax payer in town.
By realizing a profit from the
water and electricity used by such
a transient he at least pays a
fraction of his cost to the com
munity.
Another factor that is fixed
and unchangeable is: The fam
ily of business using the most
electricity is also the family or
business that is best able to
pay. In this sense It is a lot
less discriminatory than North
Carolina’s sales tax law which
charges a farmer or soda shop
Real Bargains
—IN—
—- SEE THESE BEFORE YOU BUY —
i • .V* ■: '■ ■ • V*.-: ,
>1 $ *
FARMALL “H” — with Equipment
THREE FORDS
JOHN DEERE “L’s”
with Equipment
OLIVER “70”
clerk the same tax on a $500 fliv
ver that a millionaire pays on a
$100,000yacht. The aWJJty to pay
is assuredly connected to the
rate of consumption of electric
power.
Suppose a property owner is
unfortunate enough to have sev
eral pieces of his rental prop
erty empty over a long period.
His real estate-tax remains fixed
but the ‘'tax" collected from e
lectrlcity is only collected when
electricity is being used.
Consider the 20 or more chain
stores in Kinston, who own no
property except the usually pre
shrunk Inventories that bob up
at tax listing time. True the
pay rent to a landlord who in
turn pays taxes but not in the
ration of the money siphoned
out of a community. Such stores
usually have a low wage scale
and very successfully manage to
take away a great deal more
than they bring to a community
—this is of course obvious for
they have to in order to stay in
business. Yet these chain stores
require just as much fire pro
tection, police protection as the
oldest or the largest taxpayer
In the business area. If Kinston
is able to make $100 per year
profit on each of these from
their utilities this represents sev
eral thousand dollars that are
not collected over In Goldsboro
where power is furnished by the
Carolina Power and Light Com
pany.
The Kinston plant today stands
ready and able to provide power
In t^C'DU^ntlties needed at pres
ent "and ' for an unforeseeable
time in the future. Imagination
alone can determine how long
the present facility will be ade
quate tor this area it serves. No
one dreamed ten years ago—
Including the large private pow
er companies—that electricity
consumption Would jump so rap
idly. Generators of electricity
private and • public—looked to
ward Industry and guaged their
production accordingly, but this
is where they got off the track
for the tremendous boost In elec
tricity use did not come from
more or expanding Industry
but froip the private home.
Where 10 or 15 years ago the
home used electricity for a sin
gle light bulb hanging In the
center of a room today that same
home will have two, three or
more lamps per room, a radio,
stove, a water heater, vacuum
cleaner, refrigerator, electric Iron
and washing machine. And con
sider how much can be done for
so little through this giant called
electricity. No servant has ever
given so much for so little.
Possibly the worst mistake
Kinstonians can make is to hide
their heads In the sands again
and permit their electric gen
erating facility to get so far
behind as it did in the past 15
years. This was not all due to
oversight however since the
war interrupted efforts to bring
the plant up to snuff and caused
a major shortage of men and
materials needed for this expan
sion.
In the sphere of finance, thous
ands of dollars could have been
saved for the city if a fractional
part of the utilities’ profits were
set aside regularly for renova
tion and additions. This money
could draw Interest while not In
use and would eliminate future
needs for bond issues at any rate
of interest no matter how low.
APPLE
BRANDY
Ys Quart
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