County Finances “Never As Bad As Painted”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31590, 30 January 1968, Page 3

County Finances “Never As Bad As Painted”

Though the picture of the finance of the Heathcote County Council had looked bad, it had never been as bad as it was painted, said the county chairman (Mr C. D. LeComte), who returned to Christchurch on Saturday after a world tour lasting four months. “We are now well on the way to recovery,” he said, after referring to the launching last week of the council’s $200,000 special loan. “The Government has shown its confidence in the future of the county by the help the council received from several Government departments over the loan, and

by the passing of special legislation to authorise the loan. “The fact that the National Provident Fund has offered to find up to $lOO,OOO of the loan is further • evidence of that confidence.” Mr LeComte said the council’s troubles has arisen from nothing worse than overspending from revenue on work that should have been done by loan. The money had not been wasted, but had been spent on development work. Local government in other countries was running into similar problems, said Mr LeComte. The reduction in the value of money was world wide, and local bodies were finding it hard to maintain works and services. “In the light of inquiries I made, New Zealand local body administration costs are reasonable, and our standards are very good,” he said. Mr LeComte was kept informed of his council’s activities. He said he had left Christchurch in September after the loan preliminaries had been completed, and would not have left then had his trip not been planned long before. “But I badly needed a rest after more than a year of dealing with the council’s financial problems,” he said.