COUNTY RATES REDUCED

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23349, 7 June 1941, Page 4

COUNTY RATES REDUCED

♦— — WATER CHARGES INCREASED AT ASHBURTON

A general reduction in rates was decided on by the Ashburton County Council yesterday, and although the decreases in many cases are substantial, these will be offset to a great degree by an increase from 6d to 7d a chain in water charges. It was stated that the council had lost £I6OO in the last five years, through the present water charges. The rates in the £ in each riding, with last year’s in parenthesis, are:— Ashburton, 23-32 d (14-16 d); Mount Hutt, 29-32 d (31-32 d); Mount Somers, 14-16 d (29-32 d); Rangitata, 13-10 d (14-16 d); South Rakaia, 15-16 d (16-16 d); Upper Ashburton, 27-32 d (15-16 d); Wakanui, 28-32 d (29-32 d). The general expenditure is estimated at £71,862, the main payments being: Main highways, £4995; main roads. £3755; paving. £4500; bridges. £2250; miscellaneous works £5065; machinery and tools, £6100; reserves, £4383; salaries £3500; general expenses, £2000; reserve for contingencies, £2000; reserve for machinery renewal £3100; hospital levy, £9200, and riding expenditure, £12,854. Total general revenue is estimated at £10,900, with £31,690 in general rates from the ridings. The main receipts will fie licences, £5000; plant hire. £BOOO, and rents. £3OOO. Credit at the end of March. 1941, was stated as £20,272. IMPROVED POSITION AT ASHBURTON A substantial improvement in the financial position of the Ashburton County Council was reported at the annual meeting yesterday, when it was shown that the year had ended with a credit balance of £11,985. an increase of £3550 on the credit shown the previous year. After the deduction of general expenses, the amounts collected in rates had been allotted to the ridings from which they were collected, as follows: —Ashburton, £1585; Mount Hutt, £4104; Mount Somers, £1635; Rangitata. £2151; South Rakaia. £2716; Upper Ashburton, £2949; Wakanui. £1525. A credit balance of £1995 in the water supply account was considered unsatisfactory, as it had diminished from the £3581 accumulated before 1937. A good deal of damage caused during floods had to be repaired and water charges might have to be increased to meet this.