The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 4

Talk, Alexandria-Pineville, Thursday, December 28, 1978 City May Face Financial Crisis, Ray Allen Says (Continued Irom A-l) November, the balance was $56,192. That is down from the more than $3 million we had in 1974. The explanation for the decline is simple: The city's income hasn't kept pace with rising operating costs. "Last year at this time, the prime interest rate was about 7.5 percent. Now it's up over 11 percent.

That's an indication of what the economy is doing," Allen said. The city's expenses are rising dramatically. Though revenues rise as well, the rise is not nearly as rapid as the rise in expenses. Oper- ating with utility rates that were set in 1968, the Municipal Utility Fund generates more revenue than ever. At the end of November, the system had generated some $16,717,689.

The utility fund expenses have risen astronomically as well. Expenses for the system through November were $17,192,306. That meant a nearly half million dollar deficit. Allen sees three possible revenue sources city officials can consider. "They could add another one percent sales tax.

That's something that would have to go to voters. "They could raise utility rates. But with fuel adjustment charges as high as they are, I don't think anyone would ask consumers to pay higher utility bills. "Another source of revenue could be reinstitution of the sanitation fees. If they put a $5 a month charge on all residences, the city would get over $1 million a year in new revenues.

And that's what the city needs," Allen said. With an $834,767 surplus in the general fund after November, the city operating budget has Only a $193,354 surplus after subtracting deficits in the utility and bus system accounts. At the end of November, the deficit in the utility fund was $474,616 and the bus system deficit was "The city is 58 percent through its (May 1 to April 30) fiscal year and has spent 56.2 percent of its budget. Though that may sound, like the city is running along as projected, the mayor is worried because the city has not built up any cash reserves to use in leaner months." Allen explained the city's finances are not uniform from month to month. Property tax revenues are collected in January.

Sales taxes are seasonal and rise and fall with peoples' buying habits. The city's biggest revenue producer the utility system is also the city's biggest economic drain. In fact, at the end of November, the city owed its natural gas supplier $2.5 million for fuel for the power plant and gas for its customers. It's the seasonal nature of the city's revenues that makes a comfortable unrestricted cash surplus a necessity, Allen said. In months when weather is mild and utility use is down, the city needs to have cash on hand to help offset depressed utility revenues.

That unrestricted cash just doesn't exist right now, he said. Through prudent management and investment of idle reserves in restricted bond accounts, the city managed to generate $2.5 million in interest revenues alone over the past four years. Allen believes the same thing could happen with surplus funds in an unrestricted cash account. "When we passed that bond issue for $13 million for the new power plant, we took the money and invested it up until the last day before we paid the contractors. "That earned the city $900,000 in interest.

We used that earned income to build the substation on Sterkx Road. If we hadn't invested those idle funds, we would have had to borrow money for Jhe substation. "We could do the same with unrestricted cash reserves. We invest them when they were idle built our reserves with interest Allen said. The problem facing the mayor and council as the new year approaches, Allen said, is finding a new revenue source that will allow the city to build its unrestricted reserves.

Economic Outlook Challenged schools, the secretary said. The Department of Education has responded but the effects of the new courses won't be felt for some time, Britton explained. Another problem is funding of antipoverty programs. Louisiana can't even supply enough skilled workers to build all those new plants, Britton said. The Legislature has recognized the problem and earlier this year ordered building trades to be taught in the state's vocational-technical (Continued from A-l) semi-skilled workers, he said.

The state doesn't have a highly skilled work force and must seek industry which will "provide the type of jobs that this job market right now is geared to." The Nationwide Supermarket of Sound! SUPER END-OF-THE-YEAR fin -ran MNnRn (5! III I mam a If CUT 33 'III Hi i -a mr AMFM STEREO RECEIVER STA-85 by Realistic VISA 35 watts per channel, minimum RMS at 8 ohms from Hz with no more than 0.3 THD. Auto- nuAonc it Magic FM tuning. Glide-Path CHAHOt IT volumebalance controls. EQ switch (MOST STORES) for recording Dolby 31-2061 Reg. 299" STA-85 SYSTEM 1 CUT 170" STA-85 SYSTEM 2 CUT 130" save fi 22 Reg.

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Cartridge said they told police he worked for Gacy, but they said the police did not follow up. Lt. David Mozee, news affairs director for the Chicago police, said officers follow up every missing person report, but he noted there were 23,000 such reports at the time Butkovich disappeared. On Dec. 11, 1978, Robert Piest, 15, of Des Plaines disappeared.

His mother told Lt. Joseph Kozenczak of the Des Plaines Police that Robert was last seen talking to Gacy about a summer job. Kozenczak discovered Gacy's sodomy conviction. He went to question Gacy, and the next day he and other investigators found evidence at Gacy's home which ultimately led to his arrest. CASS.

DECK, OPEN-REEL PERFORMANCE! If he had served the full term, Gacy would have left prison earlier this month. He was paroled in 1970. An attempted rape charge filed against, him in February 1971 was dropped when the complainant failed to appear in court. John Butkovich, 17, of Lombard disappeared on July 31, 1975, after going to Gacy's house to pick up a paycheck. "We gave Gacy's name to the Chicago police," said Butkovich's mother, Theresa.

"We gave them Gacy's name and they tried to talk to him but he didn't want to talk. So they just dropped it. They (the police) thought he (John) had run away. They did not think it was serious." On Dec. 11, 1976, Greg Godzik, 17, of Chicago disappeared.

His parents (Continued from A-l) convicted in Iowa on the sodomy charge. After he was paroled, he married the former Carole Hoff in 1972. She said "he started bringing home a lot of pictures of naked men" just before they separated. They divorced in 1976 on grounds that he was seeing other women. The second Mrs.

Gacy's mother, who asked not to be named, had lived in Gacy's home and said it always smelled "like dead rats." When Gacy was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Dec. 3, 1968, the judge said: "Unsatisfactory in many respects as imprisonment is, at least that will insure for some period of time that you cannot seek out teenage boys to solicit them for immoral behavior of any kind." STACKABLE CASSETTE DECK SCT-18 by Realistic SCT-30 by Realistic mm ni 3S95 B995 Put between other components or between shelves. Biasequalization switches, dual lighted VU meters, end-to-tape Auto-Stop. 14 606 3 heads for monitoring, dual capstan for inaudible wow, flutter! Decodes Dolby FM broadcasts for recording. 14 C03 CASS.

RECORDER, DUAL CAPSTANS 8 More Bodies Found Under Home STEREO RECORDPLAY 8-TRACK DECK TR-802 by Realistic SCT-16 by Realistic SSI 29995 17995 sni investigators were using a map drawn by Gacy to locate the bodies buried under the house. Gacy reportedly told police 27 bodies would be found under his house and garage and five or six more were dumped in the Des Plaines River, Stein said searchers have covered only about one fourth of the area beneath the home and that there are Indications more bodies are hidden in shallow graves in the crawl space. couple of them had some material about them that kind of looked like clothes. Three of them had what looked like ropes around their necks." The bodies some of them lying face up with cloth, possibly underwear, stuffed in their mouths were found in the muddy crawl space beneath the Gacy home. Dobbs said some of the bodies were found on top of others, while olhers were found lying side by side, Dobbs and Stein denied reports Tape off-the-air, from discs or live.

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14-604 STEREO CASSETTE TAPE DECK SCT-17 by Realistic Computer Toys Battled Over CHICAGO (UPI) Eight more bodies have been found beneath the house of John Wayne Gacy, bringing to 17 the total of bodies discovered under his home and garage. Authorities said another body found last month in the Des Plaines River 50 miles from the house might also be linked to Gacy. That would bring the total to 18. Authorities say Gacy may have been involved in the sex-slayings of as many as 32 boys and young men. Six bodies were removed from the crawl space beneath Gacy's northwest suburban Norwood Park Township home Wednesday, adding to eight previously removed from beneath the home and one beneath the garage.

Cook County Sheriff's Police Chief Edmund Dobbs said searchers found evidence of two more bodies that would be removed today. Gacy, 36, a convicted sodomist who acted as a part-time clown for neighborhood children, is charged with the slaying of a suburban Des Plaines youth. "There were six additional bodies exhumed," Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Robert J. Stein said late Wednesday.

"This makes it a total of 19 bodies now. "Most of them were skelctized. A The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition "CONTEST TO CARNEGIE HALL" December 28 at 8 PM, CST on PBS TV, simulcast on stereo FM. Check local listings for time and channel. Funded by grants from TANDY CORPORATION AND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

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THtHtt A RADIO SMACK StOAl MA A VOU I The dolls also are far more sophisticated. "The doll who wets her diaper is old hat," the spokesman said. There are now dolls which develop a skin rash. Others which have a heart beat a potentially traumatic experience when the battery goes dead. A big hit last year was an icky, green, gelatin-like substance called "Slime." Even "Slime" has been Inv proved.

This year it comes complete with wriggling worms. Most Hems also available at (Continued from A-l) figures including a scene where an injured player is carried off on a stretcher. Girls as well as boys love the new games but their favorites are still dolls and this year Mattel sold another 6 million Barbies. The famous doll was introduced in 1959 so that Barbie will be 20 years old next year. The spokesman said that the company this year also sold 20 million pieces of apparel for Barbies and Kens that makes it the world's biggest garment manufacturer.

Radio Jhaek DIALS Radio Shack Oe alert. Look for (his Sign in your neighborhood. 1213 Texas Ave. Alexandria Mall Alexandria PRICES MAY VARY AT INDIVIDUAL STORES 8 A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION 4,.