MAYOR ATTEMPTS TO EXPLAIN NECESSITY FOR UNNECESSARY INCREASE IN RATES.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 7108, 30 December 1918, Page 3

MAYOR ATTEMPTS TO EXPLAIN NECESSITY FOR UNNECESSARY INCREASE IN RATES.

Assistance From Bank To Meet Interest and Sinking Fund.

*At tbe meeting of the Bjivugh Council on the 18th inst. a discussion the infreaso in the spec:al rates for fjjß coming year arose out of the following- latter from Mr J. J. Wrigley :

<ij desire to enter my protest gainst the action of jour Council in flavouring to further increase rates The ratepayers of this Borough are a j rfi idy heavily burdened, and any furth 61" Increase will bring U3 to the Ije&vvg strain. I trust your Council w ;[l decide not to further increase the ate§. Tke excessive rating to which w e"ave subjected is retarding the whole propel of the Borough. 5' (Jr Macmillan said he was in full gytnpatlv vita Mr Wrigley and fought he (Mr Wrigley) was only voicing the p--\tA n r-f nearly all the ratepayers that special rates were to be collected much higher than ia the past a nd absolutely do word of explanation u& been given to the Council, let alone to the ratepayers, as to why it v is necessary. He (Cr Macmilkn) ]iad urged the Mayor at the Finance Committee meeting to explain to the Council so that it ciuld be made public. As a matter of fact nothing had been said about it. He would like tbe Mayor novv to mako the explanation and moved that a reply be gent to Mr Wugley in accordance with the explanation. Cr Kobblns seconded the motioD, but could not uphold Cr Macmillan'a contention that the Mayor had made no fsplanatios. He could at the previous meeting have called upon the Mayor for an explanation ju*;t as easily as at this meeting. As no explanation was made he prefcuined th.it the Mayor did not thuds it necessary, and that Oouo cillors were fully acquainted with the reason fur the increases. It was very unpleasant to have to increase the rates, but there w>s no help for it. The Mayor said he would be very pleased to make any explanation Le conld, Ho hud the details at the last meeting and was then prepared to answer any question, but none weie tsked except one by Cr Whiting regarding the town hall, so he pushed on with the business. Continuing, the Msyor said " the town hall is not in ihe category of the orhers. The town hall hits never until the present Couucil came into oih'ce had a rate struck, but it,the town hall revenue is wanted for other things like in tlds case to pay Keene and Eeid it cannot be used to pay the interest on the loan, beeause 30a cannot spend your money twice Dfer. Another point is that the town bill general account is overdrawn something between £1000 and £1200, and is as much as it can go. If you do not strike the rate well the town hall overdraft would bo increased to the extent of what ia paid to Keeno snd Keid, and thero m nothing logical ibont that.

"With regard to the Drainage Loan —something like £:-SOO. Now that overdraft is there and unless our rate femade a little bit bigger than will actually pay the charges for one year it is not good business because the oserdraft is continually going ahead because we will be continually payicg interest ou the inte-est. There were olhar charges which were made and the matter of increasing these special iatas was foreshadowed when the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board T levy waa found to bo greater than * iras expected ; the question was, Where was the money to come from ? We had struck the general rate and where were we to get ic from? It must come from the overdraft. But these other rates—the drainage and streets owe the general account a sum of money. If auother Id on these rates pay-5 that back and enables us to hold our head up. There is no other meaus provided by the Act of paying this money except by the rates, and the people when they gave their consent to these loans as business people we pledged la in the £1 and we are only asking them to pay lOd. Ido not believe there is one man in Tau. raoga will suffer more from the increases than T will. The whole of my income is derived from rents. The extra rate hits me more than any man I know."

Cr Whiting was suprised to learn that the drainage interest account was ia debit £300. A short time ago about £100 had been transferred from the drainage loan account to the general account.

The Mayor—The £133 odd transferred was the surplus after the drainage contract was finishtd. The reason the interest is in arrears was that" in 1915 no special—ra*:e was struck, and consequently it had to be paid out of the general account. Consequently it has been in arrears ever since, and that is the cauae of our trouble. At the present time I may »ywo have £1033103 to meet on January Ist. The present overdraft wa little under £'350 beyond the te. If we take the bull by the horns aud get a little bit at a time We will soun get right." Cr Tanner—" You said no special rate was struck in 1915. Why was » not struck ? "

The Mayor — il You were on the Couucil. It was not the strtkiug cf the rite ; it was tho collecting. These fStes became due on 1 January 191-i). •file tiist payment was due on 1 July 1915. The loan was raised on 1 Muurv, 101 i. Tlie lir&t half-year's interest was paid on 1 July, 1914, and the second hall" on January Ist, ISIS. Then if these rates had been collected in 1915 you would have ha<] tlurkdi'-y ear's rate to pay on 1 J»ly and half un 1 January* 1916, tot it was not. till 1916 that the hlK;cial rate was collected, and it was evHoctwl early in 191<«. That should M4Ve been collided any time from Wls up to 31 December, 1917. Tliero \\cre therefore two years in "Which io collect these rates?'

Cr Maemillan said in reply to Cr Bobbins' remarks that he should Vve taken the Mayor to task at the Piwious meeting it must be reMembered that it was rather a Iw'sical effort for him to attend that Meeting a< ho vus just recover!u" from influenza. He would l «iVt ialan the uiaucr up .. •

been in anything like form. When rates were struck the people should certainly be told why. It was not a waste oi' time to do so. The Mayor a explanation regarding the drainage rate was too weird for words. There was a capital snin of £125 on which the people in the drainage area paid interest. That was taken and handed over to nil the people. Why not then give the people in I he drainage area credit for the interest on that sum. Who, he asked, got the benefit of this amount v/lrich was paid into the District Fund account?

The Mayor replied that it was there ready to lend to any ratepayer that required assistance in the drainage area. Or Macmillan retorted that in the meantime the whole borough was yetting the benefit oi" the interest on that amount. The drainage business was altogether too weird for discussion. The motion was then agreed to without further discussion. The following letter from the manager of the local branch of the Bank of N Z was also read. " Loan Interest and Sinking Fund dm: 1 Jan ID 19 amounting to £1032 10s, In terms of the " Local Bodies Loans Act," sec. 40, the Bank is prepared to advance the amount required to pay interest aud sinking fund due 1 Jan. 1919, provided aa^ount not in excess of one year's rates specially applicable to interest, and that adequate rates are first struck aud hypothecated to provide repayment. It is to be understood that any amount so advanced would have to be on special " Interest .Account.''

la connection with this letter tho Finance Committee reported:— Owing to the present condition of the District Fund Accouut it will be necessary to make apeuial provision to meet amounts for interest and sinking fund on the drainage, electric I light and street loans, totalling +-'1032 10s and falling due on January Ist, 1919. Section 40 of the Local Bodies' Loans Act 1913 empowers local authorities to borrow money for this purpose and the Bank of New Zealaud is prepared to advance the required amount (ex:ept for the electric light loan interest and sinking fimd) provided that same is not in excess of one year's rates, that adequate rates are struck and hypothecated to provide repayment, -and that any airount so advanced would be an special interest account, Ihe Committee recommended that application be made to the Bank accordingly for an advance Iu moving that the recommend? I ation be adopted the Mayor stated that he was disappointed at the way in which the general and water rates had come in. Theic was still about £824 outstanding. Or Robbiua seconded tli2 motion, which was carried. The necessary formal resolutions tn.-iva ofto-t to the l'iuauce Com- , ;Uimeudiitiou were then