Alva Review-Courier -

In a recent article I claimed that some people really, really do not like tax increases. Strangely enough, these very same people have voted a lot of taxes upon themselves.

Here is a little history of an early need for sales tax money for the city.

It was a hot, dry summer when Roscoe Horner was mayor. He had told of the need for a wire system between Alva and the water wells about 15 miles south of town. He said such a system could monitor the wells and turn various pumps on and off without sending someone down to the well field.

I could observe the need for such a wired system and the need for new wells, on a hot Sunday afternoon. The city water flow was really slow, and there was nobody on duty to ask about it so I drove to the well field because I was always nosy.

Before I reached the wells I saw the mayor standing on the top of a hill next to the road. I scrambled through some weeds and learned he was out in the heat bleeding air from an air lock on the main water line. He explained that one of the wells got low and was just pumping air into the system. He had already turned off the pump that was sucking air and he was going up the line and stopping at the top of every hill to bleed the air out. It was hard for me to understand how an air bubble could block the water being pushed by a pump through an eight-inch pipeline.

He did convince me that a remote control was really needed and that several more wells were needed.

Whenever our water gets slow, I can picture Mayor Roscoe Horner on top of that hill on a hot Sunday many years ago.

Another thing he explained was about the automatic bleeders at the top of each hill that would release most of the air gathered at high points, but when a pump started sucking air, it put too much air into the line for the automatic valves to handle.

He went on to bleed at two more hills and then the water flow started again in the main line. By the time I got back to Alva, there was enough water for me to take a shower. But I did not turn on the lawn sprinkler.

Then after more hot weather, the people who attended city meetings discussed various financing sources and the council voted to call an election on a fraction of sales tax. I can't remember if it was a half percent or a quarter or full penny per dollar of sales. The majority of the voters approved it.

Money for Streets

One more recent tax increase really was not a tax, but $5 per month added to the water bill and tagged for street work. A volunteer committee came up with the plan. Nobody really wanted to increase the water bill, but they did like the idea of specifying a certain amount for street work. So the plan was approved by the voters.

Here's more about the $5. Some of that money was used to buy a self-propelled blacktop machine that was a bargain because the county decided they did not want theirs and wanted to sell it.

Before the city got that machine, I observed the city crew using older equipment on 12th Street and it was a really slow, tedious job.

By comparison, within past weeks, I watched the newer machine apply blacktop on Maple Street and that was amazing. It has a swath half as wide as a street, has seats for two drivers and a platform for three more workers behind them.

The whole procedure includes smoothing off the high points with a grinding machine, and then a thin coat of liquid black stuff sprayed on. Then the big blacktop machine applies the asphalt.

They should sell tickets for taxpayers to watch that machine run. I got to watch it for free because my house is close by and I am nosy. So if it were not for that particular $5 fee, that machine probably never would have been bought. I am still paying that five dollars every month, but my cars are lasting longer.

Oh, I forgot to mention the steam roller, which has both weight and vibration to pack the new asphalt The roller is kind of scary. One day I was in my recliner and when I heard a noise and felt a vibration, I jumped up and tried to answer my cell phone. Then I realized the whole house was shaking instead of the phone. The roller is not really 'steam' but that is what they were called in the past century.

Recent Sales Tax

Since that first retail sales tax, others have been voted to benefit the city, county, hospital, recreation center, university enrollment and some I forgot. Plus there have been some bonds including several school bonds. The last hospital bond was a two-timer. The sales tax for that job was scheduled to be canceled when that construction was paid off. Then when it was time to cancel it, the operating funds were a dire problem. The citizens really wanted to see that tax expire, but then voted to keep it going in order to keep the hospital solvent.

That list of new taxes indicates how many times the public has paid attention to the needs of the town.

It's just history – more or less.