Drainage Bd raises rates 19.5 p.c.

Press, 19 May 1982, Page 6

Drainage Bd raises rates 19.5 p.c.

Christchurch Drainage Board rates will rise 19.5 per cent this year, it w r as announced at a board meeting last evening. The board’s estimated expenditure had increased by $2.25 million over last year, said the chairman of" the estimates sub-committee. Mr H. W. Thompson. Against a surplus of $801,740 for the previous year, the board finished this year with a deficit of $61,501. "Without a surplus this year to cushion increases in rising costs it has been very difficult to prune the rate increase without delaying progress on outstanding works.” Mr Thompson said. “It is difficult to draw a happy medium between high rates and wet feet." Mr Thompson said. “Which is easier to endure?" "We have just had to puddle along." A board member. Mr M. J. Dobson, criticised the system that allowed much of the work behind the estimates to be done by board staff rather than members of the estimates sub-committee. Mr Dobson said this lead to a feeling of impotence by committee

members, who were left “wondering just how it happened."

Another board member. Mr R. S. Leach, agreed with Mr Dobson.

“I feel quite frankly that here we have such a’ good staff, probably the best of any territorial or local .authority, but I believe that because of that that we let them make the decisions when we should be carrying the responsibility," Mr Leach said.

Mr J. G. Freeman said that the costs of draining Christchurch, probably the highest costs in New Zealand. should be brought to the attention of the Government and also the public. The estimates sub-commit-tee recommended that the finance committee should consider whether some of the land drainage work should in future be financed by loans rather than by revenue from rating. This was expected to ease the present situation where only so much improvement ' work would be done in one year without an enormous increase in rates, Mr Thompson said.