FINANCES. The financial condition of the service may be summed up in the following condensed statement of total receipts and expenditures. The details of these expenditures are given in the appendix. The statement of cash receipts and payments appearing below shows that At the beginning of the fiscal year there were $1,928,980.08 cash on hand. During the year this amount was augmented by receipts from various sources to a grand total of $4,983,566.86. At the close of the fiscal year the entire $20,000,000 authorized by the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 855), had been transferred to the reclamation fund. Cash expenditures during the fiscal year were $8,691,808.22. The balance on hand at the close of the fiscal year amounted to $1,811,007.08. By the processes of the General Land Office and the Treasury Department the receipts from sales of public lands are held in the Treasury from six to nine months before they are placed to the credit of the reclamation fund. Estimated receipts from the sale of public lands in the hands of the Treasury Department on June 30, 1918, which had not been credited to the reclamation fund amounted to approximately $2,000,000. The reclamation fund, which comprises the moneys received from the sale of public lands, has now reached the total of $93,812,659.15, and from the sale of town sites $394,153.93. Transfer vouchers, adjusting accounts between the projects for the transfer of the value of services and equipment, amounted to $590,602.16 during the fiscal year 1918. Since the beginning of the service the value of the transfers of supplies, materials, equipment, and services between projects has amounted to $6,675,297.32. This system of transfers between projects has enabled the service to utilize equipment, materials, supplies, etc., to their fullest extent where needed and to charge the cost where the benefit accrued. CASH TRANSACTIONS. Below is shown, in the statement of cash receipts and payments, a summation of the cash transactions during the fiscal year 1918: TABLE 1.-Statement of cash receipts and payments, fiscal year 1918. Below is presented a consolidated statement of the assets and liabilities, together with the reserves and capital, of the Reclamation Service as of June 30, 1918. This statement shows that the cash resources on June 30, 1918, were $3,011,007.08 and that all other resources, exclusive of the net expenditure for construction and deferred operation and maintenance charges, amounted to $56,248,848.34. This includes the unaccrued construction charges on contracts with water-right applicants, amounting to $52,172,881.97, as well as the estimated unearned value of construction work contracted, amounting to $1,065,723.06 on June 30, 1918. This latter amount is offset by a contra entry under contingent obligations, as the payment thereof is contingent upon the contractors fulfilling their contracts with the service. The gross cost for construction work in process amounts to $124,774,633.07, comprising the cost of irrigation works as shown in the statement of construction cost by functional features. From the gross expenditures is deducted all revenue earned during construction to June 30, 1918, amounting to $6,725,925.30, making the net cost of the construction work in process $118,048,422.66. The operation and maintenance cost amounts in all to $6,167,647.66. The grand total of assets is therefore $180,595,621.75. The liabilities of the service amount in all to $2,261,494.53. The reserves for repayment to the reclamation fund of the cost of the projects amount in all to $64,910,032.29. This contains not only the value of construction contracts with waterright applicants for the original acreage subscribed, but also the acreage on which charges have been temporarily suspended on account of the land becoming waterlogged or temporarily unfit for cultivation by reason of alkali, etc. It also includes the amount forfeited, penalties paid, and the construction charges paid in advance by water-right applicants. The latter includes the sum of $714,777.37, which amount covers construction work performed by the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association under contract with the United States for the construction of power plants and canals. It also includes the sum of $52,269, representing credits allowed canal companies and others for canal systems taken over by the Government, both of which are included in the gross construction cost of that project. The capital of the service is represented by the actual receipts from the sale of public lands, amounting in all to $93,812,659.15, plus the estimated amount of $2,000,000, now with the Treasury which has not yet been audited and placed to the credit of the reclamation fund. To this is added the $1,000,000 special appropriation for the Rio Grande Dam (34 Stat., 1357) and the $20,000,000 bond loan authorized by the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 835), the total capital to June 30, 1918, being $113,423,809.82, plus the net amount of moneys received from the Indian Service for work performed on projects in Montana, $1,177,186.51. This, added to the reserves and liabilities, equals the amount shown above as the assets. TABLE 2.-Consolida ed balance sheet, Reclamation Fund projects, June 30, 1918. The statement which follows gives by features the cost of the construction of all storage works, canal systems, lateral systems, drainage and other protection systems, power systems, and other construction accounts of all projects, excluding the Blackfeet, Flathead, and Fort Peck Indian projects. TABLE 3.-Consolidated statement of construction cost and revenues. OPERATING REVENUES AND COSTS. There follows a consolidated statement giving the revenues and costs for the operation of projects which have been opened by public notices of the Secretary of the Interior. These revenues and costs are those resulting from operations connected with the lands thrown open to water-right applicants by these public notices and do not include the transactions resulting from the temporary operation of canals during the construction period. TABLE 4.-Consolidated statement of operating costs and revenues. Operation and maintenance charges accrued on contracts with water.right Operation and maintenance charges paid in advance by water-right applicants. cants.. Operation and maintenance penalties accrued on contracts by water-right applicants... Rental of lands and buildings during operating period.. Rental of irrigation water during operating period. Rental of telephone and tolls during operating period.. Rental of power and light during operating period.. Rental and other revenues unclassified.. Discount allowed on operation and maintenance charges accrued on contract with water-right applicants..... Total........ Difference between cost and revenues 2.. 1 Deduct. 2 Cost of operation and maintenance for six months of 1918 is included, but revenues for 1918 are not, because operation and maintenance charges are not payable until after close of calendar year as a rule. REPAYMENT CONTRACTS. The development of the projects has resulted in water-right applications or contracts that have been entered into with settlers, irrigation districts and associations, providing for repayment to the Government of the cost of constructing the works for irrigating their lands. These contracts, under provisions of the original reclamation law, and the reclamation extension act require complete repayment of construction charges in 10 and 20 annual installments, so graduated as to place upon the irrigator a minimum burden during the early years of farm development. On 19 projects the lands have been opened to entry and settlement and the construction charges fixed by public notice. Contracts with water-right applicants for repayment to the reclamation fund of the cost of projects total $58,131,628.85. Of this amount there has been collected $6,055,928.30 of the charges, leaving the unpaid value of these contracts on June 30, 1918, $52,075,700.55. There are still large acreages of land on most of the projects to which the service is now ready to furnish irrigation water and which are being taken up from day to day and new contracts signed. When all of the lands susceptible of irrigation are covered by contracts, the value of the contracts on any project should equal the amount of the total investment thereon. It is to be noted in this connection, however, that on several of the projects additional investment will be necessary to make all of the lands irrigable. ESTIMATED COST OF CONTEMPLATED WORK. It is estimated that there will be expended during the fiscal year 1919 the sum of $7,502,450. The following table gives the tentative distribution of this amount to the various functional features of all projects, including the Blackfeet, Flathead, Fort Peck Indian and Riverton projects. The details are given under a similar heading for each project. TABLE 5.—Consolidated statement of estimated cost of work contemplated during fiscal year 1919. The following statement shows general financial data for all projects: TABLE 6.-General financial data for all projects. Recorded current liabilities payable from 1918 appropriation.. Estimated engineering expense on contract work payable from 1918 appropriation.... Unencumbered balance July 1, 1918. |