Council begins its rating process

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 5

Council begins its rating process

City Council reporter In the midst of protests over the present year’s rates, the Christchurch City Council has already begun the process that will decide next year’s rates. Work on the council’s annual budget and plan for 1986-87 year began, as usual, before Christmas.

The work, by council staff, department heads, senior management staff and elected councillors, will culminate in May with the setting of rates for city residents. But rates are the last item to be settled, says the policy and finance committee chairman, Cr Matthew Glubb.

As the policy and finance chairman, Cr Glubb is head of the budget sub-commit-tee, which also includes the Mayor, Sir Hamish Hay, and his deputy, Cr Maurice Carter.

Before the budget for planned council activities gets to the sub-committee, it will have been through four stages. Planning begins in each division of the council, as staff outline the activities which that division should undertake for the year. Priorities and costings are worked out.

The council’s departmental heads then examine the work outlined for their departments, and decide whether it is essential.

The draft departmental budgets then go to the coun-

cil’s management executive — a committee of the four senior officers, the Town Clerk, the City Treasurer, the deputy general manager (works) and the general manager of the M.E.D.f,

From there the draft budgets go to elected councillors for the first time, through the council committee which deals with each department. Councillors make recommendations on the draft budgets to the budget subcommittee, which meets with principal officers and the management executive to thrash out the final draft that will be presented to the full council.

As finance chairman, Cr Glubb takes that draft to the council meeting. The six-stage process allows plenty of opportunity for comment and input on the final budget, Cr Glubb says.

He emphasises the planning that goes into the council’s work schedule. Rates are determined after the schedule is outlined. All sources of revenue are tallied up and set against the work to be done. Rates meet the deficit of funds not provided from other sources such as fees, loans, or revenue.

If the rates seem too onerous once the arithmetic is done, the schedule of work is re-examined, Cr Glubb says. “There is very little non-essential work that ever gets through,” he says.

Certain council activities do not draw from rates. These include the M.E.D. and Christchurch Airport, car-parking, rental housing, and dog control.

The M.E.D. and the airport are seen as commercial trading activities which fund themselves. The council has a policy that rental housing, car-parking and dog control are also selffinancing.

The M.E.D. is the first budget to be looked at, as it depends on revenue from tariffs for its funds. The tariffs are set from April 1. The 1985-86 M.E.D. budget will go the council’s airport and electricity committee next month.

Cr Glubb says the process will not change because of changes to the rating system brought in by the council last year. Instead, the rates figure will be in two parts — the standard $l5O per property, plus the difference for what is needed to fund works.

Rates for the 1985-86 year were $33 million, out of a budget of $lBO million. The printed plan and budget ran to 460 pages and listed council objectives for each department. Cr Glubb says these objectives are important as they provide a check on what the council is trying to achieve and how well it does achieve.

“The budget is a method of anticipating the needs of the city and monitoring how well the council performs in meeting them,” he says.