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hi" ''.,:-- ! CilJ. 151 ., V .. . , 4 74th Year No. 286 Good Morning! t Thursday. August 19. 1982 2 Section 12 PageH 25 Vm-- . Kim Fowler Ron Wade standi on iand where it meets the landfill. The post, once 6 feet high, reveals the amount of fill Landfill neighbors had their fill By Bruce Aucbiy Missourian staff writer While city and county officials are i getting an earful of public indigna-tion tonight about the proposed city landfill sites, the voices of those who live near the current landfill are likely to get lost in the fray. Columbia's landfill, located about eight miles north of town between Peabody and Calvert Hill roads, will reach capacity early next year. A search for a new site has narrowed to two possibilities: one west of Route B on Oakland Church Road and the other east of Route B along Rogers Road. Both sites are outside the city lim-its, but the city has the power to use any unincorporated county land for public use, said Gary Stamper, a lawyer representing a family living near the east ate. Columbia Public Works Director Ray Beck recently gave a prelimi-nary nod to the west site without a proper explanation, area residents say. That same group of people, afraid a landfill would lead to in-creased traffic, litter and noise, will have a meeting at 7: 30 tonight at Oakland Christian Church, located at the corner of Oakland Church and Oakland Gravel roads. The residents have invited Beck, Mayor John Westlund, the City Council and the Boone County Court to attend. " There are problems associated with operating any landfill," said Dave Sapp, whose house is 50 feet from the proposed western site. " At the current landfill, they ( the prob-lems) are relatively minor because there are relatively few people out there." Relatively minor? Just try and tell that to Ron Wade, whose house is one- quart- er mile from the current dump. Wade knows all about one problem mth landfills litter. " People get to the dump and it's closed and they don't want to haul it back home," Wade said, adding that sometimes the garbage people leave in the bushes alongside the road is cleaned up, and sometimes it's not. Aubrey Long, a neighbor of Wade's and the landfill's, also has had his share of problems. Part of the 37- ac- re farm that Long manages is downhill from the landfill, and silt run- o- ff from the landfill filled up a pond on his farm " like you'd fill up a spoon with sugar," Long said His complaints to the city got him a new pond. The city dug up the sdt and dumped the dirt on his two- ac- re clover pasture. The result was a patch of weeds. Just looked like some little kid's work," Long said He said he tried but failed to con-tact Beck about the mound of dirt left in his pasture. " I'd like to have him out here to see what's going on," Long said Nevertheless, Long says the cur-rent dump improves the former strip mine where it's located. Neighbor Tom Ehler had a differ-ent experience. His garden was flooded when the city drained one of the holes before filling it up with gar-bage But Ehler said the city came out and fixed that. Now, as the city dump has expand-ed closer to his house, he has a new concern rats. " I just noticed ' em this year," Ehler said. " You know how rats are, you don't like ' em " ' Beck, apparently , is unaware there are rats at the dump. " If you could ever find a rodent," Beck said, " I would want to know about it" But Wade, who lives by the cur-rent dump, knows about rats " There's a difference between city rats and country rats," Wade said " Country rats are afraid of people and run when you come, but these were city rats. They'd come right up to the house." Except for the rats, however, Ehl-er doesn't seem too worried about living close to a landfill. " None of us is too happy, but it hasn't given us too much trouble," he said Wade is a bit more philosophical about garbage dumps. " I'd sure love to be nd of ' em," he said, ' but I wouldn't wish it on any-body else " Costs delay nuclear plant . completion ST. LOUIS ( UPI) Union Elec-tric Co. says exacting construction standards are among the reasons for an extra year and $ 750 million in added costs needed to complete the Callaway nuclear plant The utility Wednesday said the plant would not be finished until late 1984 or early 1985. Most recent estimates had called for the plant, being built near Re-form in central Missouri, to be fin-ished in early 1984. Total cost of the plant now is expected to be $ 2.85 bil-lion. The latest delays will increase the direct cost of the plant by $ 400 mil-lion, to $ 1.8 billion, Chairman Charles J. Dougherty said. Carrying charges on the investment in the plant will increase $ 350 million, to $ 1.05 billion. Carrying charges are added to the cost because UE is prohibited by state law from including such plant expenses in its rate base. In a related development, Illinois Attorney General Tyrone Fanner filed a petition with the Illinois Con ' merce Commission objecting to charging rate payers the full cost of the canceled Callaway 2 unit. The petition said part of the 18 per-cent rate hike requested by UE for its Illinois customers would be used to offset the losses from cancellation of the second unit. Rough road to new dump By Bruce Auchly Missourian staff writer Columbia has been cited five times in the last 18 months for violations at its landfill north of the city. Conse-quently, Missouri's Department of Natural Resources will look closely when the city applies for a permit to open a new city dumD. State inspections have shown the city's garbage has not been covered with the required six inches of dirt every day and the area suffers from excess litter. The landfill, eight miles north of town between Peabody and Calvert Hill roads, has only three houses nearby, and the closest one is a quarter-- mile away. That apparently ex-plains why state officials have not pursued the city's violations beyond inspection reports. " Because it is so isolated, we've let it get by," said John Doyle of the DNR's solid waste division. " We probably wouldn't let it go any fur-ther if the area was more devel-oped " Meanwhile, in the last month the city has pinpointed two sites for a fu-ture dump, each within three miles of the city boundary. One site is west of Route B on Oakland Church Road and the other is east of Route B on Rogers Road. While the eastern one is relatively isolated, the west site, to which the city has given preliminary approval, has 32 families living with-in 200 yards. That's according to Gary Stamper, an attorney rep-resenting one of the families. Ray Beck, Columbia's director of public works, said the west site looks better because of economics and the environment. " It would be cheaper to operate," Beck said. He added that the ground ( See RESIDENTS, Page 8A) Economists temper outlook See only mild improvement By Owen Ullmann Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON ( AP) Despite Wall Street's euphoria over falling interest rates, a strong and lasting turnaround in the economy remains far from focus. The unexpectedly swift drop in in-terest rates this summer and the growing consensus among financial experts including some notable pessimists that they will continue heading down for some tune is rais-ing hope, to be sure And, not surprisingly, administra-tion officials frustrated by the long-time stranglehold of high interest rates say this ma be the break to propel the nation toward the pros-perity President Reagan has prom-ised for so long But many private economists see only mild improvements for the rest of this year, with little prospect, par-ticularly, for a significant decline in unemployment. They see a stronger pace of growth in 1983, but that opti-mism is tempered by fears that bal-looning federal budget deficits and a new surge in interest rates will halt a recovery in its tracks Indeed, it is a persistently ailing economy that the experts say is causing interest rates to drop As economic activity weakens, demand for money slackens and the sup-pliers of credit have to lower their prices " The economy literally fell out of bed in June," Jack W Lavery, chief economist at Merrill Lynch Econom-ics Inc , said Wednesday. Lavery and many of his colleagues believe the dismal economic statis-tics for that month, refuting fore-casts of a healthy mid- ye- ar recov- er- y, triggered both a drop in demand for credit and a move by the Federal Reserve Board to encourage a drop in interest rates to avert a grave fi-nancial crisis. The experts' consensus is that the nation's central bank feels that in the face of so weak an economy, it can afford to ease up on its tight- cred- it policies without raising fears in the financial community that it is abandoning its fight against infla-tion Now, Lavery said. ' the economy appears to be recovering, but at an extremely anemic pace " Consum-ers are likely to speed up their buv- m- g this fall, as they start to see cred-it terms improve and sense that unemployment may get no worse, but 1983 could prove to be a year of slow, interrupted growth because of the still unresolved problem of how the government plans to lower the record deficits it faces, he added The man who sparked Tuesday s record stock market gain, economic guru Henry Kaufman, based his new forecast of declining interest rates over the next 12 months on soft eco-nomic conditions " A smart recovery in economic activity in the second half of this year is not likely to materialize," Kaufman, one of the foremost eco-nomic pessimists, said in explaining why he was reversing a previous forecast of a sharply rising rates this fall. Congress approves federal spending cut WASHINGTON ( UPI) Congress approved legislation Wednesday slashing $ 13.3 billion from federal spending over the next three years, with the deepest cuts in dairy price supports, federal pensions and the food stamp program The Senate voted 67- 3- 2 to give final congressional approval to the Omni-bus Reconciliation Act, the first ma-jor implementation of the Reagan- backe- d 1983 budget resolution to win congressional enactment. The House earlier approved it 243- 1- 76 President Reagan intends to sign the measure. The major reductions are $ 6 6 bil-lion in agriculture programs, includ-ing dairy subsidies and food stamps, and $ 3.4 billion in federal pension benefits for 1983- 8- 5 Remaining cuts of about $ 16 bil-lion, are included in the tax package. One of the most controversial pro-visions would save $ 3 4. billion by cutting in half the annual cost- of- livi- ng adjustment for retired federal workers under age 62, delaying for a month the payment of the cost- of- livi- ng benefits to all federal retirees, and eliminating the benefit altogeth- - er for military retirees who work for the federal government as civilians All federal retirees now receive the full benefit. Of the federal re-tirees under 62, about 60,000 are ci-vilian and 980,000 are military The deepest cut, and one of the most controversial, is the $ 6 6 billion slashed from the growth of agricul-ture programs It includes a $ 4 2 bil-lion reduction in dairy pnee sup-ports and a $ 1 9 billion cut in food stamps The food stamp savings were achieved mostly through a reform of the program, but the change in the dairy price support involves a freeze of subsidies that neither the adminis-tration nor the dairy industry sup-ports The negotiators also agreed to save $ 2 billion over three years by speeding up payment from home-owners of Federal Housing Adminis-tration mortgage insurance premi-ums. Minor savings in other areas, such as a 0 5 percent user fee for those who obtain a Veterans Admimstra- tion- insure- d mortgage loan, brought the total savings in the measure to $ 13 262bdhon Natural slas rates balloon in September . By Jeff Fox Missourian staff writer Missouri Utilities Co.' s 22,000 Columbia cus-tomers paid an average $ 435 last year for natu-ral gas. The average could go to $ 544 when gas rates leap 27.3 percent Sept. 1. The price increase is occurring because Pan-handle Eastern Pipe Line Co., the Houston- base- d firm that sells Missouri Utilities natural gas, is raising its rates Sept. 1. Missouri Utili-ties is passing along part of that increase. Instead of the $ 2.79 per million British ther-mal units ( Btu) of gas that Missouri Utilities now pays, the rate will increase to $ 4.09, an in-crease of 45.6 percent. That's according to Stan Wallace, Panhandle Eastern's vice presi-dent for corporate communications. Panhandle Eastern's increase must be ap-proved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a process that could take up to a year. If the total increase is not granted, as Wallace expects may happen, then the differ-ence would be refunded to Panhandle's cus-tomers. Missouri Utilities would then refund the money to its customers. The rate hike is not subject to review by the Missouri Public Service Commission because interstate commerce is involved Since 1978, gas rates m Columbia have gone up 88 percent and more than 80 percent of that increase has gone to Panhandle Eastern because of its wholesale price hikes. At a prehearing conference today, represen-tatives of Panhandle, Missouri Utilities and 26 of Panhandle's other customers will present their cases to representatives of the federal agency m an attempt to begin to hammer out the final increase. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commis-sion has given Panhandle Eastern approval to go ahead with the rate increase in September even though the review and final rate approval probably will come later. Len Coffelt, Missouri Utilities district man-ager, says Missouri Utilities will lobby to limit the increase as much as possible. " The fixed- incom- e customers have been hurt last year, especially with federal cuts," Coffelt says. " The community has been helpful, but they're going to be hurt." Coffelt says 72 4 percent of the money Mis-souri Utilities gets from its customers goes to pay for the gas it buys from Panhandle East-ern. Wallace says the planned increase has two causes the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 and the addition of new supplies of gas from the Anadarko Production Co., an Alberta, Canada firm. The act allows natural gas wholesale prices to go up twice a year Sept 1 is one of this year's two dates That will add 50 cents per million Btu to Missouri Utilities' costs. Sept. 1 also is the date a new contract for Ca-nadian gas should go into effect That adds the other 80 cents. Tax bill not so rosy for average taxpayer By Scott Stuckey Missourian staff writer In his nationally televised appeal Monday to in-crease taxes, President Reagan assured his audi-ence that most of his controversial $ 98.3 billion tax bill is simply " better collection and correcting of flaws m the system." Employing statistics, the president attempted to soften the blow further by explaining his pro-posal would save the average taxpayer $ 400 this year and $ 788 next year because of last year's tax cuts. Perhaps the president's tax accountant wears rose- color- ed glasses. Applying pencil to paper, it becomes apparent the impact of the president's tax package on indi-viduals would vary considerably. Some will hurt more than others. i I Insight Smokers, for instance, would see the federal tax on their habit double to 16 cents per pack. Smok-ing a pack a day for a year would cost $ 58.40 in federal taxes, up from $ 29.20. The impact might be even greater on those who buy their cigarettes from a vending machine Be-cause you can't stuff pennies down the slot, ma-chine operators might round the eight- ce- nt in-crease up to an even 10 cents, for convenience sake, of course. Beginning in 1983, the 1 percent federal tax on telephone service would increase to 3 percent. Considering an average monthly phone bill of $ 30, th federal tax bite for a year would jump from $ 3.60to$ 10.80. Excise taxes, such as those on cigarettes and telephone service, are considered " regressive" because they take more from low- inco- me taxpay-ers as a proportion of their total income. Politi-cally speaking, regressive taxes seem easier to raise. That's because low- inco- me taxpayers, rela-tive to other groups, it appears, lack the clout to fight them effectively. Restaurant workers, who frequently fail to re-port all their income from tips, also would lose un-der Reagan's package. Restaurants with more than 10 employees would have to provide the In-ternal Revenue Service sales figures to help im-prove tax collections from tip recipients Families with high medical expenses also would be hit by Reagan's proposal. Currently, drugs and medicines exceeding 1 ( See BOTH, Page 8A) I Im ftOWIl 7 pan. Community Services Commission meets, Municipal Building, 600 E. Broadway. 7 pan. Parks and Recreation Commission meets, Gentry Building, 1 S. Seventh St. Business ........ 7A Classified .2- 3- B Comics 4B Opinion 4A "' People 5A 8 HailsviUe SA I Sports IB I
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1982-08-19 |
Description | Vol. 74th Year, No. 286 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1982-08-19 |
Type | Newspaper |
Format | |
Collection Name | Columbia Missourian Newspaper Collection |
Publisher.Digital | The Office of Library Systems of the University of Missouri |
Contributing Institution |
State Historical Society of Missouri University of Missouri School of Journalism |
Copy Request | Contact the State Historical Society of Missouri at: (800) 747-6366 or (573) 882-7083 or email contact@shsmo.org. Some fees apply:http://shsmo.org/research/researchfees |
Description
Title | Full Page |
Date.Search | 1982-08-19 |
Type | page |
Item.Transcript | hi" ''.,:-- ! CilJ. 151 ., V .. . , 4 74th Year No. 286 Good Morning! t Thursday. August 19. 1982 2 Section 12 PageH 25 Vm-- . Kim Fowler Ron Wade standi on iand where it meets the landfill. The post, once 6 feet high, reveals the amount of fill Landfill neighbors had their fill By Bruce Aucbiy Missourian staff writer While city and county officials are i getting an earful of public indigna-tion tonight about the proposed city landfill sites, the voices of those who live near the current landfill are likely to get lost in the fray. Columbia's landfill, located about eight miles north of town between Peabody and Calvert Hill roads, will reach capacity early next year. A search for a new site has narrowed to two possibilities: one west of Route B on Oakland Church Road and the other east of Route B along Rogers Road. Both sites are outside the city lim-its, but the city has the power to use any unincorporated county land for public use, said Gary Stamper, a lawyer representing a family living near the east ate. Columbia Public Works Director Ray Beck recently gave a prelimi-nary nod to the west site without a proper explanation, area residents say. That same group of people, afraid a landfill would lead to in-creased traffic, litter and noise, will have a meeting at 7: 30 tonight at Oakland Christian Church, located at the corner of Oakland Church and Oakland Gravel roads. The residents have invited Beck, Mayor John Westlund, the City Council and the Boone County Court to attend. " There are problems associated with operating any landfill," said Dave Sapp, whose house is 50 feet from the proposed western site. " At the current landfill, they ( the prob-lems) are relatively minor because there are relatively few people out there." Relatively minor? Just try and tell that to Ron Wade, whose house is one- quart- er mile from the current dump. Wade knows all about one problem mth landfills litter. " People get to the dump and it's closed and they don't want to haul it back home," Wade said, adding that sometimes the garbage people leave in the bushes alongside the road is cleaned up, and sometimes it's not. Aubrey Long, a neighbor of Wade's and the landfill's, also has had his share of problems. Part of the 37- ac- re farm that Long manages is downhill from the landfill, and silt run- o- ff from the landfill filled up a pond on his farm " like you'd fill up a spoon with sugar," Long said His complaints to the city got him a new pond. The city dug up the sdt and dumped the dirt on his two- ac- re clover pasture. The result was a patch of weeds. Just looked like some little kid's work," Long said He said he tried but failed to con-tact Beck about the mound of dirt left in his pasture. " I'd like to have him out here to see what's going on," Long said Nevertheless, Long says the cur-rent dump improves the former strip mine where it's located. Neighbor Tom Ehler had a differ-ent experience. His garden was flooded when the city drained one of the holes before filling it up with gar-bage But Ehler said the city came out and fixed that. Now, as the city dump has expand-ed closer to his house, he has a new concern rats. " I just noticed ' em this year," Ehler said. " You know how rats are, you don't like ' em " ' Beck, apparently , is unaware there are rats at the dump. " If you could ever find a rodent," Beck said, " I would want to know about it" But Wade, who lives by the cur-rent dump, knows about rats " There's a difference between city rats and country rats," Wade said " Country rats are afraid of people and run when you come, but these were city rats. They'd come right up to the house." Except for the rats, however, Ehl-er doesn't seem too worried about living close to a landfill. " None of us is too happy, but it hasn't given us too much trouble," he said Wade is a bit more philosophical about garbage dumps. " I'd sure love to be nd of ' em," he said, ' but I wouldn't wish it on any-body else " Costs delay nuclear plant . completion ST. LOUIS ( UPI) Union Elec-tric Co. says exacting construction standards are among the reasons for an extra year and $ 750 million in added costs needed to complete the Callaway nuclear plant The utility Wednesday said the plant would not be finished until late 1984 or early 1985. Most recent estimates had called for the plant, being built near Re-form in central Missouri, to be fin-ished in early 1984. Total cost of the plant now is expected to be $ 2.85 bil-lion. The latest delays will increase the direct cost of the plant by $ 400 mil-lion, to $ 1.8 billion, Chairman Charles J. Dougherty said. Carrying charges on the investment in the plant will increase $ 350 million, to $ 1.05 billion. Carrying charges are added to the cost because UE is prohibited by state law from including such plant expenses in its rate base. In a related development, Illinois Attorney General Tyrone Fanner filed a petition with the Illinois Con ' merce Commission objecting to charging rate payers the full cost of the canceled Callaway 2 unit. The petition said part of the 18 per-cent rate hike requested by UE for its Illinois customers would be used to offset the losses from cancellation of the second unit. Rough road to new dump By Bruce Auchly Missourian staff writer Columbia has been cited five times in the last 18 months for violations at its landfill north of the city. Conse-quently, Missouri's Department of Natural Resources will look closely when the city applies for a permit to open a new city dumD. State inspections have shown the city's garbage has not been covered with the required six inches of dirt every day and the area suffers from excess litter. The landfill, eight miles north of town between Peabody and Calvert Hill roads, has only three houses nearby, and the closest one is a quarter-- mile away. That apparently ex-plains why state officials have not pursued the city's violations beyond inspection reports. " Because it is so isolated, we've let it get by," said John Doyle of the DNR's solid waste division. " We probably wouldn't let it go any fur-ther if the area was more devel-oped " Meanwhile, in the last month the city has pinpointed two sites for a fu-ture dump, each within three miles of the city boundary. One site is west of Route B on Oakland Church Road and the other is east of Route B on Rogers Road. While the eastern one is relatively isolated, the west site, to which the city has given preliminary approval, has 32 families living with-in 200 yards. That's according to Gary Stamper, an attorney rep-resenting one of the families. Ray Beck, Columbia's director of public works, said the west site looks better because of economics and the environment. " It would be cheaper to operate," Beck said. He added that the ground ( See RESIDENTS, Page 8A) Economists temper outlook See only mild improvement By Owen Ullmann Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON ( AP) Despite Wall Street's euphoria over falling interest rates, a strong and lasting turnaround in the economy remains far from focus. The unexpectedly swift drop in in-terest rates this summer and the growing consensus among financial experts including some notable pessimists that they will continue heading down for some tune is rais-ing hope, to be sure And, not surprisingly, administra-tion officials frustrated by the long-time stranglehold of high interest rates say this ma be the break to propel the nation toward the pros-perity President Reagan has prom-ised for so long But many private economists see only mild improvements for the rest of this year, with little prospect, par-ticularly, for a significant decline in unemployment. They see a stronger pace of growth in 1983, but that opti-mism is tempered by fears that bal-looning federal budget deficits and a new surge in interest rates will halt a recovery in its tracks Indeed, it is a persistently ailing economy that the experts say is causing interest rates to drop As economic activity weakens, demand for money slackens and the sup-pliers of credit have to lower their prices " The economy literally fell out of bed in June," Jack W Lavery, chief economist at Merrill Lynch Econom-ics Inc , said Wednesday. Lavery and many of his colleagues believe the dismal economic statis-tics for that month, refuting fore-casts of a healthy mid- ye- ar recov- er- y, triggered both a drop in demand for credit and a move by the Federal Reserve Board to encourage a drop in interest rates to avert a grave fi-nancial crisis. The experts' consensus is that the nation's central bank feels that in the face of so weak an economy, it can afford to ease up on its tight- cred- it policies without raising fears in the financial community that it is abandoning its fight against infla-tion Now, Lavery said. ' the economy appears to be recovering, but at an extremely anemic pace " Consum-ers are likely to speed up their buv- m- g this fall, as they start to see cred-it terms improve and sense that unemployment may get no worse, but 1983 could prove to be a year of slow, interrupted growth because of the still unresolved problem of how the government plans to lower the record deficits it faces, he added The man who sparked Tuesday s record stock market gain, economic guru Henry Kaufman, based his new forecast of declining interest rates over the next 12 months on soft eco-nomic conditions " A smart recovery in economic activity in the second half of this year is not likely to materialize," Kaufman, one of the foremost eco-nomic pessimists, said in explaining why he was reversing a previous forecast of a sharply rising rates this fall. Congress approves federal spending cut WASHINGTON ( UPI) Congress approved legislation Wednesday slashing $ 13.3 billion from federal spending over the next three years, with the deepest cuts in dairy price supports, federal pensions and the food stamp program The Senate voted 67- 3- 2 to give final congressional approval to the Omni-bus Reconciliation Act, the first ma-jor implementation of the Reagan- backe- d 1983 budget resolution to win congressional enactment. The House earlier approved it 243- 1- 76 President Reagan intends to sign the measure. The major reductions are $ 6 6 bil-lion in agriculture programs, includ-ing dairy subsidies and food stamps, and $ 3.4 billion in federal pension benefits for 1983- 8- 5 Remaining cuts of about $ 16 bil-lion, are included in the tax package. One of the most controversial pro-visions would save $ 3 4. billion by cutting in half the annual cost- of- livi- ng adjustment for retired federal workers under age 62, delaying for a month the payment of the cost- of- livi- ng benefits to all federal retirees, and eliminating the benefit altogeth- - er for military retirees who work for the federal government as civilians All federal retirees now receive the full benefit. Of the federal re-tirees under 62, about 60,000 are ci-vilian and 980,000 are military The deepest cut, and one of the most controversial, is the $ 6 6 billion slashed from the growth of agricul-ture programs It includes a $ 4 2 bil-lion reduction in dairy pnee sup-ports and a $ 1 9 billion cut in food stamps The food stamp savings were achieved mostly through a reform of the program, but the change in the dairy price support involves a freeze of subsidies that neither the adminis-tration nor the dairy industry sup-ports The negotiators also agreed to save $ 2 billion over three years by speeding up payment from home-owners of Federal Housing Adminis-tration mortgage insurance premi-ums. Minor savings in other areas, such as a 0 5 percent user fee for those who obtain a Veterans Admimstra- tion- insure- d mortgage loan, brought the total savings in the measure to $ 13 262bdhon Natural slas rates balloon in September . By Jeff Fox Missourian staff writer Missouri Utilities Co.' s 22,000 Columbia cus-tomers paid an average $ 435 last year for natu-ral gas. The average could go to $ 544 when gas rates leap 27.3 percent Sept. 1. The price increase is occurring because Pan-handle Eastern Pipe Line Co., the Houston- base- d firm that sells Missouri Utilities natural gas, is raising its rates Sept. 1. Missouri Utili-ties is passing along part of that increase. Instead of the $ 2.79 per million British ther-mal units ( Btu) of gas that Missouri Utilities now pays, the rate will increase to $ 4.09, an in-crease of 45.6 percent. That's according to Stan Wallace, Panhandle Eastern's vice presi-dent for corporate communications. Panhandle Eastern's increase must be ap-proved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a process that could take up to a year. If the total increase is not granted, as Wallace expects may happen, then the differ-ence would be refunded to Panhandle's cus-tomers. Missouri Utilities would then refund the money to its customers. The rate hike is not subject to review by the Missouri Public Service Commission because interstate commerce is involved Since 1978, gas rates m Columbia have gone up 88 percent and more than 80 percent of that increase has gone to Panhandle Eastern because of its wholesale price hikes. At a prehearing conference today, represen-tatives of Panhandle, Missouri Utilities and 26 of Panhandle's other customers will present their cases to representatives of the federal agency m an attempt to begin to hammer out the final increase. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commis-sion has given Panhandle Eastern approval to go ahead with the rate increase in September even though the review and final rate approval probably will come later. Len Coffelt, Missouri Utilities district man-ager, says Missouri Utilities will lobby to limit the increase as much as possible. " The fixed- incom- e customers have been hurt last year, especially with federal cuts," Coffelt says. " The community has been helpful, but they're going to be hurt." Coffelt says 72 4 percent of the money Mis-souri Utilities gets from its customers goes to pay for the gas it buys from Panhandle East-ern. Wallace says the planned increase has two causes the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 and the addition of new supplies of gas from the Anadarko Production Co., an Alberta, Canada firm. The act allows natural gas wholesale prices to go up twice a year Sept 1 is one of this year's two dates That will add 50 cents per million Btu to Missouri Utilities' costs. Sept. 1 also is the date a new contract for Ca-nadian gas should go into effect That adds the other 80 cents. Tax bill not so rosy for average taxpayer By Scott Stuckey Missourian staff writer In his nationally televised appeal Monday to in-crease taxes, President Reagan assured his audi-ence that most of his controversial $ 98.3 billion tax bill is simply " better collection and correcting of flaws m the system." Employing statistics, the president attempted to soften the blow further by explaining his pro-posal would save the average taxpayer $ 400 this year and $ 788 next year because of last year's tax cuts. Perhaps the president's tax accountant wears rose- color- ed glasses. Applying pencil to paper, it becomes apparent the impact of the president's tax package on indi-viduals would vary considerably. Some will hurt more than others. i I Insight Smokers, for instance, would see the federal tax on their habit double to 16 cents per pack. Smok-ing a pack a day for a year would cost $ 58.40 in federal taxes, up from $ 29.20. The impact might be even greater on those who buy their cigarettes from a vending machine Be-cause you can't stuff pennies down the slot, ma-chine operators might round the eight- ce- nt in-crease up to an even 10 cents, for convenience sake, of course. Beginning in 1983, the 1 percent federal tax on telephone service would increase to 3 percent. Considering an average monthly phone bill of $ 30, th federal tax bite for a year would jump from $ 3.60to$ 10.80. Excise taxes, such as those on cigarettes and telephone service, are considered " regressive" because they take more from low- inco- me taxpay-ers as a proportion of their total income. Politi-cally speaking, regressive taxes seem easier to raise. That's because low- inco- me taxpayers, rela-tive to other groups, it appears, lack the clout to fight them effectively. Restaurant workers, who frequently fail to re-port all their income from tips, also would lose un-der Reagan's package. Restaurants with more than 10 employees would have to provide the In-ternal Revenue Service sales figures to help im-prove tax collections from tip recipients Families with high medical expenses also would be hit by Reagan's proposal. Currently, drugs and medicines exceeding 1 ( See BOTH, Page 8A) I Im ftOWIl 7 pan. Community Services Commission meets, Municipal Building, 600 E. Broadway. 7 pan. Parks and Recreation Commission meets, Gentry Building, 1 S. Seventh St. Business ........ 7A Classified .2- 3- B Comics 4B Opinion 4A "' People 5A 8 HailsviUe SA I Sports IB I |