172 MAKING THE RATE SCHEDULE 



revenue, and ultimately part of the surplus should be dedicated 

 to other non-productive public purposes, such as supplying 

 libraries, hospitals and parks. This policy has been followed to 

 a limited extent by American cities. 



The rates should further be arranged to represent as nearly 

 as possible average requirements for a reasonable period, say 

 five to ten years in the future, but in general they should be 

 sufficient to meet average conditions; that is to say, it would 

 be unwise to adopt a rate schedule recognizing only the condi- 

 tion of a largely over-built plant, if that condition exists, be- 

 cause the condition is temporary and will soon disappear with 

 increasing business. On the other hand, a schedule adapted 

 only to the conditions of a plant fast reaching, or which has 

 already reached, the limit of its capacity, would be unwise 

 even when those conditions exist, because extensions will pre- 

 sumably be soon made, and then the conditions will be changed 

 to those of a plant that is temporarily over-built. 



If each of these two kinds of conditions were considered by 

 itself, wide divergency in forms of rates would result. In the 

 case of an under-built or inadequate plant the service charges 

 would be reduced or might even entirely disappear, and the 

 uniform meter rate would be selected; while with the over- 

 built plant the service charges would be relatively large, the 

 sliding scale would be selected, the amount of slide would be 

 liberal, and the price per thousand gallons to large takers would 

 be reduced to a low amount. 



A well-balanced schedule is one that takes into account 

 both of these conditions and provides a division between large 

 and small takers that will represent average conditions through 

 a term of years, with both of these general conditions alter- 

 nating with each other. 



Fire Service. The first step after ascertaining the gross 

 revenue to be raised is to deduct from it the amount that can 

 be realized from fire service. The fair value of the fire service 

 to the community is one thing; the amount that can actually 

 be realized from it is another. 



The methods of estimating the value of fire service have 



