Hopes for revenue-sharing

Press, 13 May 1986, Page 4

Hopes for revenue-sharing

The Christchurch City Council believes its share of the $l5 million the Government will hand out in revenue-sharing could be as much as $750,000.

The Government last month announced that $l5 million would be made available for revenuesharing with local authorities: $l4 million as general revenue assistance, and $1 million for incentive grants. The money will be available from October

The City Treasurer, Mr Robert Lineham, reported that while it was impossible to tell how much the council would get, on historical proportions it would probably be between $500,000 and $750,000. The budget is being prepared on the assumption that the council will get $500,000. An accurate figure should be available before the special budget meeting on May 26. While the council will

get more from revenue sharing, it will likely get less from licensing fees. The Government’s decision not to require renewal of driver’s licences until the holder’s seventieth birthday means a loss of $105,000 revenue from this source. The council took over relicensing from the Ministry of Transport in 1984. An agent’s fee may be paid to licensing authorities while the change from the present system to plastic-card licences is

made, but the council has deleted the $105,000 from budget calculations.

A little more than a month into the financial year the council has raised $262,224 in interest on general funds and another $572,038 in interest on M.E.D. moneys. Draft budget totals for interest set the general funds revenue about $2.25 million and for the M.E.D. funds at $2.4 million. The interest received so far accounts for almost a sixth of that.