Stevens County's $14,640-a-Year Interest Bill Goes to the Voters
On Sept. 7, Newport taxpayers were asked to swap stacks of high-interest county warrants for cheaper bonds — a refinancing the commissioners swore would save $6,400 a year and touch nothing but the old debt.
One of the most important elections to be held in Stevens county for years will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 7, when the matter of issuing bonds to cover the indebtedness of the county will be decided by the voters.
This proposition was before the voters at the last general election, and was carried, but for technical reasons bond purchasers refused to take the bonds, holding that there were defects in the procedure of holding the election. The county commissioners deem the matter of bonding so vital to the taxpayers of the county that they have called a special election so that the bonding can be considered by the voters without any other issue diverting their attention.
At the present rate of interest the county is paying $14,640 per year interest, or $1220 a month. The bonds can be sold at a much lower rate per cent per annum, which would make the annual interest only $8230 and save the county nearly $534 a month.
It is a pure business proposition, against which no good argument can be advanced. The commissioners are taking just such action as every rancher and business man would take in exchanging an indebtedness at a high rate of interest for the same amount of indebtedness at a much lower rate.
It should be remembered that the money secured from the sale of these bonds can be used by the commissioners for no other purpose than the taking up of the old warrant indebtedness. In voting for the bonds you are not authorizing any lavish expenditure of funds, but assisting in a clear business transaction, one that will put the affairs of the county on a business basis and result in a saving of $6400 per year.
At the time of voting for the bonds it is also necessary that the question of validating the old indebtedness be approved by the votes of the people, otherwise the bonds cannot be sold. Therefore vote "Yes" on both propositions, as the carrying of either is no good without the carrying of both.
“It is a pure business proposition, against which no good argument can be advanced. The commissioners are taking just such action as every rancher and business man would take in exchanging an indebtedness at a high rate of interest for the same amount of indebtedness at a much lower rate.”
This was municipal refinancing, plain and simple: a county choking on warrant debt at ruinous interest, asking voters for permission to borrow at a lower rate. The first attempt had already passed once and failed on a technicality, so the commissioners called a do-over — a reminder that procedural defects, not public opinion, have always been the great killer of bond issues. Stevens County voters in 1909 were being asked to trust that the money would only retire old debt, the same promise modern ballot measures make about what a levy can and cannot touch.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.