FIRE BOARD COSTS

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 9

FIRE BOARD COSTS

Apportionment questioned

The necessity for local government contribution to the expenses of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Board was questioned at a meeting of local body representatives which recently discussed the apportionment of the board’s costs in the city the Waimairi County Council was told on Thursday evening. The council agreed to a recommendation from the joint meeting that discussions should be held between the councils and the board, and asked the County Clerk (Mr J. Reid) to prepare a report on the apportionment of the board’s expenses. The chairman (Mr D. B. Rich) said that the meeting had agreed that, as the cost apportionment was inequitable, re-examination was necessary. While the meeting had felt that some local authority control should be exercised in the board’s work, the Government controlled expenditure, though it only contributed 10 per cent of the costs.

Mr Rich said that as the outer local bodies’ representative on the board, he was concerned that firms were being discouraged from installing sprinkler systems, resulting in higher costs to ratepayers. This arose from the City Council’s decision to charge a $lOO annual fee for these systems.