Fire Service ‘not immune from cut’

Press, 16 March 1982, Page 6

Fire Service ‘not immune from cut’

Wellington reporter The Fire Service, in keeping with all other sections of the community financed from public funds, could not expect to be immune from the Government’s proposed 3 per cent cut in expenditure, the Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs (Mr G.W.F. Thompson) told the annual conference of the United Fire Brigades’ Association in Masterton yesterday. The Government was determined to cut its expenditure 3 per cent at least, he said. Only about 25 per cent of the Fire Service Commission’s budget came directly from,funds from Parliament;

the rest came from a tax on insurance premiums, and from the Fire Service levy which was to be increased from June 1. This levy increase would not mean a vast increase in Fire Service funds, Mr Thompson said. All it would do was maintain at a reasonable level, the contribution made by the taxpayer through Parliament. The Government was looking to the Fire Service Commission and expected it to reduce effectively by 3 per cent the money it would require from Parliamentary appropriations this year, he said.