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<£> k*f \ raately one-third. A further review of the rate® will show that while some of the proposed increases for commercial services are relatively high, yet the dollar hilling is still modest for the volume of water con­sumed and the value of the service received. Some classes of service are still continued "free” because of the public nature involved and franchise requirementsj while other quasi-public institutions have been given no increase. While the rates proposed will no doubt result in objections from some, as is always the case, yet the proposed increases are be­lieved to be reasonably distributed. Under flat rate service it is impossible from a practical standpoint to provide complete equality as between water users, a® flat rate® lead to waste and to difficulty in assessing the water usage as between customers. k comparison with rates paid for water service in other com­munities will for the most part show that the people in Las Vegas not only have, but will continue to receive favorable water rates under the proposals herein made. Likewise, the proposed Increases are in general materially below the average rise in Income of Las Vegans and are still not sufficient to completely offset the decreased pur­chasing power of the dollar. the over-all increase on the basis of 1950 average is estim­ated to amount to approximately #60,000 or 37*3 percent Comparative Water Consumptions In a semi-ar 4 climate, such as exists in Las Vegas, water consumption will be higher than in many other areas, whether water were sold on a flat rate or metered basis, althou*$i there is no question if service at Las Vegas were metered, the amount of con­sumption would fall sharply.