Parks estimates

Press, 9 May 1979, Page 6

Parks estimates

Christchurch City ratepayers will pay 32 per cent I more this year towards parks and recreational facilities. Draft estimates for the council’s park and recrea-| tion department show $3,133,610 to be provided by rates, compared with a con-i tribution of $2,354,478 last financial year. Total spending for the department this year is esti-| mated at $5,186,366. an! increase from $4,475,498 last year.

Queen Elizabeth II Park remains the biggest single item of expenditure, and the largest revenue earner. The contribution of rates to the; park is expected to rise by! 40.6 per cent to $655,453 Receipts from the park are expected to total $307,500. '

Expenditure on reserves, i including two indoor I stadiums owned by the coun- , cil, is -expected to be I $3,512,861, and the contribution from rates will rise by ; 29.6 per cent. The chairman of the parks : and recreation committee l(Mr P N. G. Blaxall) described the estimates as “frugal.” Mr Blaxall said that he “really did not know how. council staff did the work oni the amount of money avail-j able to them when he looked) at the standard of parks; around the city’.” The committee yesterday decided to raise the council’s contribution for play equipment in public parks to $39,000 this year. A total of $29,000 was spent last year, much of it on a one-to-one

subsidy for money offered by voluntary groups.

The committee decided to increase its subsidy to two-to-one for the next 12 months. The committee also decided to increase the prices of council firewood, which will bring them into line with the charges of other merchants. The increases mean that a .cord of blocks delivered in I the city will cost $34, and a | cord of split lengths, also [delivered in the city, will be | $32. A report to the committee said that prices had not increased since August, 1974. The current cost on the council for the process and delivery of the firewood, was $34 a cord-