City Council in the red

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33563, 18 June 1974, Page 18

City Council in the red

The Christchurch City Council overspent its budget last year and at March 31 was $123,000 in the red.

This was revealed in the estimates presented to the council last evening. One of the main items overspent from general rate income was Queen Elizabeth II Park, for which $20,300 had been allowed and on which $101,821 was actually spent. Capital works also exceeded the estimate for

last year. The major item in the budget, capital works had been voted $2.65m but this was overspent by $207,000. In all, the council overspent its budgeted outgoings from the general rate by 8.2 per cent, or $395,381. For these reasons, the council has increased the estimate for expenditure of the general rate this year by 15 per cent. Capital works have topped s3m for the first time. GRANTS REDUCED The finance vote has been

increased by $155,231, but several of the items catered for under that heading have been pruned. Grants to welfare organisations, for instance, have been cut by more than $20,000, but the major part of this has been achieved because the council’s five-year grant to the Commonwealth Games Association ($19,000 last year) has been fulfilled. The council’s own welfare programme, however, has been given an increased vote in the estimates. Last year's estimate of $10,500 was overspent by $8356, and this year the vote is $29,370.

Most of this increase will go in salaries and wages as the council increases the number of staff it has working in this field. One of the large increases in the finance vote is a $44,967 hike to $132,117 to meet the council’s share of the operating budget of the Town Hall. CENTENNIAL POOL The vote for pools has also been increased considerably — from $24,150 last year to $51,640. Much of this is to meet an expected deficit of $32,650 in the running of the Centennial Pool. The property administration vote, which covers the council’s pensioner housing, has been increased from $43,000 to $58,450; and the general reserves estimate has been increased by $91,000 to $679,175. This estimate does not include Queen Elizabeth II Park, which has been transferred to a separate account. The council also intends to clear more than slm in meeting interest, sinking funds and principal repayments on loans this year. Of this, $204,573 is for

loans associated with Queen Elizabeth II Park, and $103,438 for loans associated with the Town Hall. ADDITIONAL BURDENS

Cr D. R. Dowell, the chairman of the council’s policy and resources committee, said the city ratepayers had several additional burdens not met by ratepayers in other areas.

“The airport has been supported financially solely by city ratepayers. Although our airport serves metropolitan Christchurch and indeed most of Canterbury, only the city ratepayers have directly contributed financially to its development and to the amount of nearly slm,” he said. “The Christchurch City Municipal Electricity Department consumers continue to subsidise the consumers of Waimairi. “With the Drainage Board a similar situation applies. The city ratepayer subsidises other areas.

“The public library has had token support from other

authorities towards its reference section. Waimairi contributes this year, $500,” he said. “The City Council has carried the greater burden of the Town Hall for far too long. It is apparently not completely understood by all that the Town Hall is not owned or operated by the City Council although we meet the greatest cost, but by a board of management comprising representatives of all the Christchurch local authorities. “I believe it is time some of these matters were discussed publicly, so that the citizens throughout metropolitan Christchurch might be better informed,” he said.

Airport work cost.—A revised estimate of the cost of extensions to the terminal building at Christchurch Airport was given to the council last evening. The new figure, $3.7m, is 15 per cent above the original estimate.