Paparua refuses full levy

Press, 30 March 1989, Page 14

Paparua refuses full levy

By

TOM METCALFE

Tourist and promotional activities organised by the Canterbury Promotion Council may be cut because Paparua County Council has refused to pay its full levy. Paparua’s finance committee recommended yesterday that the county pay $23,385 to the Promotion Council this financial year, or 70c for each Paparua resident. The Promotion Council had asked for a voluntary levy of 90c a head from each local body in the region. Paparua’s share would have been $30,967. The chairman of Paparua County and the finance committee, Mr Jack Pethig, said that the full levy was unreasonable for what the county got from the Promotion Council.

Paparua County was mostly rural, and did not benefit as much from the Promotion Council’s activities as more central councils, such a Christchurch City or Waimairi District, he said. The Promotion Council’s chief executive, Mr Bruce Dunstan, said that the $6682 shortfall in the Paparua levy meant activities planned for this year would have to be cut back.

Paparua had never paid the full levy, and while it was not the only local body not doing so, it was the largest, and its refusal to pay in full hit the hardest, he said. “If everyone only pays two-thirds of the levy, we can only do two-thirds of the job,” he said.

The council did not budget for local bodies not paying the full amount, but it occurred to some degree each year, he said.