No support for change in council’s funding

Press, 19 August 1981, Page 28

No support for change in council’s funding

Efforts by the Christchurch City Council to change the representation and funding basis for the Canterbury United Council met with no support from a meeting of the Ellesmere County Council. The changes would reduce membership of the united council from 26 to 16, and change the funding basis from one based on population to one based on capital value.

The city council wants to bring its proportion of representation on the united council closer to the proportion of funding it provides. Gr J. S. Free said that the bulk of the united council’s duties were for regional planning and civil defence, and “these are for people and most of those people live in Christchurch. “I think that Vicki Buek (chairman of the Christchurch City Council finance committee) is just flexing

her muscles a wee bit,’’ said Cr Free.

Cr D. H. Goulden said that the reduction of representation by giving some councils one representative between several of them would not give the united council the “teeth” it needed for regional planning. The County Clerk, Mr G. R. Singleton, said that the county council’s payments to the united council would rise “substantially” under a levy system based on rateable capital value. Lincoln march

The council supported Cr W. T. Simpson’s vote of disapproval at a recent Lincoln College High School board meeting over teachers allowing pupils time off to attend an anti-tour march.

Cr Simpson said, that his vote was made “much to the displeasure of certain board members.”

"The matter has created a bit of division in the school,” he said. “Some of the students came back late from the march and w r ere heckled by other students.” He said that apparently those pupils who heckled were disciplined later. ' Cr . Simpson said that he had received several complaints from parents about the teachers’ involvement in the march and the disciplining of pupils who disagreed with those who took part. Rolleston water The tender to put in a well to supply water to Rolleston has been let by the council to A. M. Bisely, Ltd. / The county engineer, Mr R. J. Anderson, said that an application for a Government subsidy was being held up in Wellington, possibly because the council might have to chlorinate the water supply. Mr Anderson said that the Ministry of Works appeared to think that the water might be affected, by seepage from sewage tanks. Equipping the planned water system to provide chlorination could cost about $24,000 on top of the tendered cost of $35,000.

The council decided to look for suitable land on the upstream side of Rolleston and find out whether this would remove the possibility of having to provide chlorination.