RATES INCREASED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 122, 25 May 1932, Page 10

RATES INCREASED.

MOUNT EDEN BOROUGH. PU TO BE 4/11 IN THE £. HEAVY INTEREST LIABILITIES. T It was decided, after much discussion) at a meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council last night to levy a j rate of 4/11 in the £ for. the year 193233. The levy last year was 4/2. After thr the Mayor, Mr. T. McNab, had put the relj motion that the rate of 4/11 be struck wa to the council, Mr. J. J. Mulviliill moved apo ' an amendment, that it be reduced to n 4/9, stating that a too pessimistic view an( was being taken of the borough's finances. The amendment was rejected j by seven votes to live. jj 0 "In presenting the estimates fisr the year," said the Mayor, "it is only fair to enumerate the causes which control bo ' the increased rate we will have to strike, diu It is useless evading the position which nm has been handed down to us. We have rj to face it. % Last year we thought that a prg 12 months' breathing space might have j )V helped matters, but the position is now f j a , more acute through the continuance of the depression. Last year we decided to omit the usual payment to the sinking cer fund of some £8500. This was a most f cr serious 6tep to take, and was criticised by many local politicians who nre now trying to raise sufficient courage to do g j n it in their own local bodies. They now publicly support the principle. This is a time of emergency, the country is in ,l " great need, and Parliament should take steps to relieve the financial burden and ° responsibilities of nil those under it. Parliament could give us relief equal to •- ' 7d in the pound. This could easily be nu done, and everyone, even the smallest "° ratepayer, would feel the benefit. 1 re( Council Not Answerable. cu "This council is in no way answerable re < for any of the increased rates that rate- a 9 payers will have to meet this year. It w i was our predecessors who ignored the future. If they had collected the rates w as we are doing, kept down administra- e gj tion expenses and generally conducted n i< the borough affairs in a businesslike se i manner, we would not have commenccd our term of office with a debit balance tli of £30,801 or with a list of assets some „„ of which will not realise one-third of m( their face value. Unfortunately, we f„ cannot take a stand and wipe these out." tic Mr. McNab said that in 1930 the ex- in town clerk, Mr. S. Gray, in opposition re. to the ex-Mayor, circulated a proposed fo estimate which required a rate of 4/S tli in the pound. Last year he gave a simi- to lar estimate, asking 4/9 in the pound, fir If the former council had taken Mr. su Gray's advice and heeded the requests w< of several councillors that economies should be practised at once, the borough i* would bo in a much happier and sounder in position to-day. bj Sinking Fund Payments. 1 "The sinking fund has been a source 1 of trouble in the borough for some ' years," said the Mayor. "In my opinion, the sinking fund was never paid out of 1 rates, as it should have been, but by ' adding to the overdraft., During the period March, 1920, to March, 1931, the ■ amount paid to the sinking fund was I £32,540, and the deficit shown in March, 1931, was £31,8G3. In b ief, the sinking T fund payment each year was borrowed from the bank, and our total indebted- w ness is wholly due to this unsound prac- 0 f tice." tv Mr. McNab said that during their b; ■ year of office they had completed drain- g< age contracts to the value of £13,500, tenders for which had been let by their ti predecessors. They had dispensed with ci the services of the engineer and had P carried out only a few small connections p 1 with No. 5 scheme labour. cf Position Aggravated. "We commence the year with a deficit " u of £37,294 in the general account and e ' ; £5283 in the water account, an increase p on last year's total of £8437. It is regret- p table that no provision can be made to j, reduce this larger amount, but our extra- w ordinary 'fixed charges' make any provi- w sion impossible. The position is aggravated by the Government refusing to pay rates due on properties of which „ they are the mortgagee, an obligation „ that is placed on private individuals. We Sl can only balance our budget by putting t , in an already tagged item of £5100 and p all other items, however questionable, ac J, full face value. If, tnrougli any reason, r any item in our receipts shows a profit at „ the end of the year, it will be urgently J, needed to reduce the deficit." u 4/7J For Outsids the Borough. f Touching the public debt of £852,870, * Mr. W. H. Nagle, chairman of the finance c committee, said that it required over 0 3/G in the £ to meet interest and sinking fund, and over 8d to pay hospital, drainage board and museum levies. r These two items alone absorbed more than the whole of last year's rates, and it required a further 5Jd in the £ to meet other external charges and liabilities inherited from the previous council. The Items enumerated totalled 4/7J, of which not one penny was spent within j the borough. c "If we were relieved of sinking fund provision and the refund to No. 29 loan s it would relieve us of in the £," { said Mr. Nagle. "Our floating debt of ( £42,577 is a matter of grave concern, as £ it involves us in a very, heavy provision , for overdraft interest. One pleasing j feature is an item of £2799, rebate of ; interest, although the 5 per cent collection fee can only be classed as outrage- ] ous when contrasted with the Jth per 1 cent charged by the banks for a similar j purpose." j Mr. Nagle said that unfortunately, in , a crisis such as the present, Mount Eden i had no endowment revenue. The esti- < mated revenue for the borough was , £103,000, leaving a margin of only £430. . "I regret very mi.ch having to second i the motion that the rate struck be < 4/11," said Mr. Nagle. "It is the most painful duty I have had to perform, but, knowing the financial position of the borough as I do, I would be failing in my duty did I not support the motion." Items Considered Seriatim. , Mr. J. J. Mulvihill moved as an amendment, "That consideration of the estimates be deferred." "Your motion, your Worship, is the most extraordinary that has ever come before this council," said Mr. Mulvihill. "Why has all this been sprung upon the councillors so suddenly? I respectfully submit that every councillor should have the oppor- '< tunity of carefully studying each of the i items on the estimates, and discussing them." The Mayor'; You will get plenty of opportunity to do that. It is the inten- ' tion to go through the items one by one. ' The items on the estimates were dealt with seriatim and the Mayor's motion t was carried by seven votes to five. The s Mayor and Messrs. W. H. Nagle, F. L. Rendell, F. S. Battley, J. A. Steele, G. d W. Clark and D. H. Connelly voted for r the motion, and Messrs. J. J. Mulvihill, d S. E. Chappell, R. J. Mills, A. P. Hartnoll and C. Cowan voted against it.