Major Items In Record Spending

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29239, 24 June 1960, Page 14

Major Items In Record Spending

Record expenditure for the growing city of Christchurch was approved by the City Council last evening when it held a special meeting to consider the 1960-61 estimates.

An estimated expenditure of more than £1.5 million was approved by the council, £977,518 of which will come from the council’s general rate.

A deficiency of £2258. compared with £3877 last year, is expected on the Centennial Pool. Expenditure on the pool, which is still awaiting completion, included £1784 for architects’ fees. A major item in the estimates of the baths and entertainment committee is £3OOO to provide a sprinkler fire control system for the stage, basement, and storage of the Civic Theatre, which was damaged by fire recently. There is also £2OO provided to alter the existing doors and provide additional fire protection. Rewiring and a new switchboard for the theatre are expected to cost £BOO. The Mayor (Mr G. Manning) will again receive an honorarium of £lOOO. Last year he managed to gain an extra 6d according to the estimates of the by-laws, finance and departmental committee. It come about through fractions, and offset a previous year when only £999 19s 6d was paid Staff salaries at an estimated £70,000 (£68,682 last year) are by far the major item to be met by this committee.

Last year’s municipal election and poll expenses cost the city £10,804 No major provision is needed this year, but £2OOO has been provided as a contingency for a possible by-election or poll. The cost of local body elections was also reflected in the £6269 it cost the city last year for clerical assistance and expenses of the district electors’ list. A sum of £2OOO has been provided for this year. Town Hall Transfer

Once again, in accordance with the policy of the Citizens’ Association, which holds all 19 seats on the council, £lO,OOO is transferred from the rates to the town hall account.

Generally, grants have been approved along the lines of the amounts given last year. A new grant is £lOOO for the Christchurch symphony orchestra. Another is £2OO to the Canterbury Progress League as a special grant towards the cost of “Carnival Week.” There is £250 towards the cost of sending Canterbury athletes to the Olympic Games

The housing committee’s accounts show an estimated deficiency of £2705 on pensioners' cottages. Two new items cover proposed expenditure on housing develop-

ments—£l7so for the salaries of two survey officers and an architect for six months, and £3OOO for property purchase and general housing redevelopment costs.

An annex, with new storeroom and entrance, at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, is estimated to cost £4OOO. With the appointment of a full-time director, the salaries and insurance item has risen from the £1778 paid last vear to an estimated £2500. For the purchase of pictures £5OO is provided, against £341 spent last year.

The share of the regional planning scheme is estimated to cost the city £lO,lOB this year (it spent £9894 last year), and this item, with £10,121 for salaries, form the bulk of the town planning committee’s estimates.

With a budget of £100,775, the traffic committee expects to spend £38,000 on the salaries of traffic control officers, with another £9OOO provided for overtime. Street marking estimated to cost £5350 will be subject to a subsidy of £2290 from the National Roads Board. Speed Detector There is provision for £BOO to buy a new micro-wave speed detector. One has been in use by the traffic department for a considerable time, and the traffic committee has decided that another will be an added deterrent to sneeding motorists in the citv The works department, the council's major “spending” department. proposes to devote £3BOO to the purchase of land for street widening in Allen street. Springfield, Swanns and Mcßratneys roads. The £l5OO provided for buying land in Victoria street is similar to the actual amount spent last year.

A sum of £3300 for reconstruction of Allen street is the major item in the central ward expenditure. For part of the cost of widening Idris road, £2OOO is set aside. Extension of Avonside drive to form a part from Wainoni north is estimated to cost £5OOO. A similar amount is provided for reconstruction of Shortland street. In the Woolston ward, the widening of part of Aidwins road, on which £2157 was spent last year, is estimated to cost another £3OOO.

In New Brighton, £2OOO is provided for reconstruction of part of Bower avenue, where £2OOO

was spent last year, and £lO,OOO is estimated for reconstruction of Estuary road from Bridge street to the Estuary. Causeway Widening

Bridges and the first stage of widening the causeway at Mount Pleasant are estimated to cost £3OOO, and reconstruction of the main road from Shag Rock to Cliff street is set at £6OOO.

General maintenance of paths in the city is expected to cost £14,000 this year, compared with £12,369 spent last year, and resealing £17,500 (£16,576). For the maintenance of carriageways the council has provided £70,000. compared with an expenditure of £68,486 and resealing is estimated to cost £BO.OOO (£77,290 last year). Under the heading of bridges and jetties, the department estimates £20,000 for the Avondale road bridge, and £3900 is provided for the Campbell street culvert. For sea protection, the council has allowed £2OOO for Redcliffs and New Brighton (£253 of an estimated £lOOO was spent last year), and for Sumner the figure is £3200. with another £3OOO provided for the Sumner boat harbour.

Riverbank regrading, including Kerrs reach, is estimated to cost £2OOO in 1960-61, against £3772 spent last year.

From the works department’s total vote of £609,384 for the year, there will be deducted an estimated National Roads Board subsidy of £307,370. With a budget of £55,948 expenditure, the libraries* estimates provide for £13,431 in receipts this year, compared with £13,145 received last year. The provision of £8750 towards a new library in Sumner is a major item in the expenditure outside the Canterbury Public Library Many of the items in the works department’s votes qualify for a subsidy from the National Roads Board.