CITY RATES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28819, 13 February 1959, Page 8

CITY RATES

Nearly film To Be Paid Yet

With only three weeks left before there is a 10 per cent penalty imposed on unpaid rates, nearly £1 million is needed to meet the City Council’s rate levy for 1958-59. I '

Up to Wednesday evening, £558,556 had been paid. Thia represents 36.2 per cent, of the council’s levy of £1,539,415, and

compares with a collection of 39.3 per cent, at the corresponding date last year. Officers of the council have to go back many years to remember a slower collection of rates. The Government’s cheque for about £54,000 for rates on State rental houses and certain Government properties has been received. It came in in December of last year, slightly later than usual. *

The big city firms normally pay their rates just before the date for the penalty, gaining interest if there is money on deposit, or avoiding interest if, as is often the case, an overdraft is used to meet the city’s demand. The demands for the rates, fixed by the council in June, were posted out to ratepayers early in August and the due date for payment was August 18. The council has power to sue for rates unpaid within 14 days of tl 3 due date, but that power is

As well as collecting its own rates, the council is collecting agent for the Christchurch Drainage and Transport Boards and the North Canterbury Catchment Board.

With taxation being paid as earned, and no big outgoing to the Inland Revenue Department in February, as in the past, it was expected that the payment of rates this year would be a little better than in previous years. Now, it appears that the percentage of unpaid rates after March 4 will be higher than the usual 3 to 3J per cent.