CITY FINANCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 121, 24 May 1932, Page 5

CITY FINANCES.

SALIENT FEATURES. TAPERING OFF SPENDING. GROWTH OF STANDING CHARGES. TASKS OF THE PRESENT TIME. (Concluded.) To bring to a conclusion this series of articles attention should be drawn to some of the salient features of the city's finances. It has been shown that, during the pacit few years, the civic authorities have tapeicd off expenditure and that half the revenue to-day is swallowed up in standing charges. Borrowing has ceased, but the effects remain, a dead weight on the city; economy is exercised but there is little relief in the rates; values have fallen, but the rutable valuations to-day are 20 per cent higher, in the aggregate, than they were five years ago.

If the valuations were a true index, tho rate-paying capacity of tlie people would now be far greater than it was in 1921. Jii fact, on the basis of the valuations, a. rate of 1(1 to-dov means a levy of .CI 1,100, compared with in 1921. The area of the city has been doubled in the interval and the population is one-third greater. Expenditure, in some directions, has been increased three or four times, and in other direcit has been cut down to tho lowest level for many years. The hospital and drainage levies have been increased, and (here lias been a sharp fall in the yield from heavy trafiie fees and revenueproducing endowments. Such are a few of the opposing factors which have had to bo reconciled in budgeting for the present year. Decade of Heavy Spending. The council has decided upon a total rate levy of 3/11 in the £1, and has raised the interest rate to 1/7, its highest level. The general rate, on the other hand, is the lowest for fifteen years. In 1!)22. when the levy on the ratepayers was the same as it is this year, rentals and values were rising and the rates were not a crushing burden. To-day a charge of 3/11 in the £1 imposes a far greater strain, and calls for a greater sacrifice. The past decade has been a period of heavy spending. Streets have been concreted, new trafiie outlets opened, reservoirs built, filtration plants installed, zoological gardens and parks developed, workers' dwellings erected, the tramway system extended, libraries built, a municipal hand organised, elec-

trie lighting provided in the streets, and in many other ways Auckland has reflected a spirit of progress. The public debt has been doubled, the cost of traffic control more than trebled, and that of public lighting multiplied four times. The extejit of these increases is strikingly shown in the following table, giving a comparison with ten years ago; —- 1031-32. 1921-22. £ £ Interest 510,(M3 2.>4.301 Parks 20,381. 11, ill lighting 30,21.2 8.040 Traffic Control . 11,-144 3,705 Results of Investigation. The expenditure in the general account was £270.■">08 last year, compared with £245,584 in 1021. To offset the increases the principal economy was in streets maintenance. New methods have been adopted, which the council hopes will still further reduce costs and practically eliminate borrowing for ordinary street works. f , ~ It becomes necessary now to state the main conclusions to which this investigation has led. They may be summed up as follow: —

1. Loan expenditure should bo more evenly distributed and sliould be budgeted for a long term. 2. Borrowed money should be expended only on work that will outlive the term of the loan with a minimum of maintenance. Borrowing for street improvements has proved a costly policy and should be kept to the minimum. 3. Economies in the smaller departments have not been much in evidence, and the possibility of amalgamating some of these should be investigated. 4. Co-ordination of departments is necessary to save expenditure on outside clerical assistance. From £1400 to £2800 a year has been spent in the employment of temporary clerks, and, as the departments do not have their busy periods at the same time, this amount should disappear. 5. Retrenchment in the council's staff is essential. 0. Parking and other traffic bylaws should be more strictly enforced by the traffic department. The present staff is more than adequate to do this work. 7. Useless borders in some parks should be eliminated and many flower •beds at present planted in annuals should be replaced by flowering shrubs, which require little attention. 8. Jn the lending libraries there should bo a better selection of educational books, and obsoleto works should be discarded. <). Future water policy should be considered from the viewpoint of Greater Auckland, and the cost of a Waikato scheme more fully investigated. A wide disparity is apparent between the city engineer's estimate and that of independent investigators. If the council continues to develop catchment areas, a capital expenditure of some millions of pounds

in tlie Waitakeres and. Hunua Ranges must be undertaken in the next lialf-century. 10. Expenditure and receipts should be more frequently checked against the estimates during the year to give the finance cormnittec a better opportunity of fulfilling its duty as guardian of the purse. 11. The form of the estimates adopted by the present Mayor should be made permanent, as it gives concisely a comparison between past and present years. The People's Part. Finally, the public should be urged to take a greater interest in civic affairs, and those who guide the destinies of this growing city should realise that they are entrusted with a worthy charge. Carefully administering its affairs, they must assist the march of progress. Auckland is a wonderful heritage, and what Aucklajxlcr can look upon it without a feeling of affection! If he has paid a heavy price for the amenities of city life he has been on the whole well governed, and trusts that the future will make amends for past mistakes. To preserve this heritage, enhance the reputation of the city and provide a solution of its problems—these are the tasks of the present time.