WELLINGTON RATES TO GO UP

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 186, 4 May 1937, Page 10

WELLINGTON RATES TO GO UP

Council Requires Additional £56,750

BURDEN OF UNCONTROLLABLE COSTS

Hospital Levy, 40-Hour Week And

Rising Prices

■\n increase of Z 56.750 in the Wellington C ity Councils expenditure for the current year, necessitating higher rates to the extent of approximately 10 per cent., was icvc.iled in the estimates brought down by the council sitting as the finance committee last night.

The major portion of this sum will be absorbed in an increase in the hospital levy, the cost of the 40-hour week, lugher prices for materials used by the corporation, and interest and sinking fund charges for loans approved last year.

No new works of any magnitude are possible, out of the revenue this vear. the council having to keep its departmental expenditure within the closest bounds in order to maintain essential services.

Explaining the estimates, the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, said the committee had met three times and gone exhaustively into tbe various items placed before it. by the departmental committees. The growth in the requirements of these committees had been phenomenal. On the first occasion that the estimates were dealt with there was an estimated expenditure approaching £200,000 over aud above the actual expenditure last year. Then it was whittled down to £129,000. All items that went to make up this extra amount were desirable works: many were deemed necessary. But the committee felt that to call upon the ratepayers to provide an extra £129,000 on top of the demand of £540.000 last year would be entirely unjustifiable. So tbe committee again went through the proposed expenditure until tbe additional amounts were reduced to £66,750. Then, just before the council met that night, the committee further reduced the sum by £lO.OOO. leaving £56,750 more to be found this year than last to meet what was considered to be the absolute minimum needed for the essential requirements of the city.

“Now.” continued the mayor, “that is a very large sum. But, we cannot carry on the functions of the city efficiently, leaving out altogether what wp ? desirable, without raising this £56,<00 more 'than what was available last year.

"For my own part—and speaking for myself alone —I feel that increases in rate taxation must be tempered with the knowledge of what the ratepaying portion of the, citizens can reasonably be called upon io bear. It is our duty to make that burden as light as possible consistent with our necessary functions. The more you increase the rates the more you increase the direct impost on the. whole community in the long run.

“But against that we have got to maintain the necessary development of the citv; we have got to maintain the essential services for health, transport and the liundred-and-one things that fall within the orbit of this municipality. But we have to curb the tendency to provide municipal improvements that we can do without.”

No Help From 'Electricity Department.

The mayor went ou to explain that the gross expenditure this year ran to £765,892, as against £725,089 allowed for last year. The additional expenditure ot' Hie departmental committees ami outside the committees’ control was £40,803. The council did not propose to take anything from the electricity department this year. Last year it contributed £15.000 from its profits. £7500 for unemployment relief and the other half for general purposes. Cr. 11. A. Wright, M.P.: Is the money not there? The mayor: It is not there.

The position was that in all the council needed £56,750 more this year, to meet the £40,803 he mentioned, also the fall in the revenue due to the fact that nothing could bo taken from tbe electricity profits. The council had reduced its electricity charges to the lowest figure iu the Dominion aud, indeed, in the Southern Hemisphere. Cr. P. M. Butler: Perfectly justified. Tbe mayor: Perfectly justified. Continuing, Mr. Hislop said tbe electricity department showed a profit of £BOOO this year after making all the necessary provisions. This money could not be taken from the department for general purposes to-day because of the extra charge it was called upon to carry. As tbe year progressed, however, the electricity account might look better, but at present no money could be Liken from it. “Now,” said the mayor, “if we look at the items which have caused this increase of £56,750 we will see where it will go. It is the biggest increase the council has bad to make. Hospital Board’s Levy. “The Wellington Hospital Board has increased its levy on the city by £S6SI this year, its total demand ou us being £76,743. In Auckland the hospital board there levied £63.938 ou the city council, or £13,000 less than Wellington, though the city populations affected are about tbe same. Its demand on the Auckland council was £6709 higher than last year. The Auckland Hospital Board collected £60,133 in patients’ fees, tiie Christchurch Hospital £35,143. ami tbe Wellington Hospital £34,539. These figures make one wonder whether we are being asked to find more in the levy than should be required of ns. “Tiie next item beyond our control.” said the Mayor, “is an increase of £5OO in the Wellington Fire Board’s levy. Tbe next is an increase of £5278 in our interest and sinking fund charges. This is due to the fact that tiie stormwater drainage loan is now a full charge on our accounts. Tn addition. the new library loan has to be met. “The next item is one of £2OOO to pay for tbe compulsory housing survey required by the Government, and which must. Tie completed by July this year. “Then there is t he increase in wages brought about by the 40-liour week, the amount involved being £12,484. The final item over which we have no control is an increase iu the cost of materials the council requires, amounting to £22,900. Increase in Costs. The mayor said that careful costing bad revealed that, for 39 standard lines of articles used by tbe corporation the average increase in costs was 18 per cent, “None of us likes having to ask the

ratepayers fur this additional money,” said Mr. Hislop, “but you cannot have two opposing things at once —you cannot increase your costs and do the same work with the same money. If you look round you will see that everybody in business who can do so, has had to increase prices. The same applies to us. The alternative is to reduce our works. ‘•There have been critics who have come into the field before any of the details were published,” lie said. “I am prepared to challenge anybody to point out any item that can be regarded as not essential for carrying out the city’s work during the year. Ur. A. Black: Even tbe Ratepayers’ Association.

“I am prepared to go into these estimates with any reasonable person or any person who is not considered reasonable,” Mr. Hislop declared. “I am equally prepared to go on to tbe public platform aud defend the council against these guarded innuendoes and to meet anybody bold enough to go on the platform and challenge the figures. I am prepared to say that my record and yours is clean. I have never before had Ihe privilege of working with men who have done more in the proper performance of their duty than the present council. I would like to meet anybody who is prepared to traduce this council.” The mayor formally moved the adoption of tbe estimates and the making of the levy to raise the additional £56,750. No Extravagance. “We have been accused of being extravagant with the ratepayers’ money,” said Cr. AA. Appleton, chairman of tbe works committee, who seconded. “I am a fairly big ratepayer myself, aud I don't like an increase in rates.” The estimates were tin absolute minimum to maintain the city in a state of efficiency, he continued. The works committee w:v asking for only £3OOO more this year for essential works. It could cut down its expenditure by £4OOO or £5OOO if it required citizens to bring their garbage cans to their front gates, as was done in other cities. No one wanted that course to be taken. Cr. C. 11. Chapman, M.P., challenged the mayor’s statement that it was necessary to ask the ratepayers for £56,813 more. He considered that it would be quite reasonable to expect £18,950 more in revenue than had been allowed for. He predicted a surplus nt the end of the current year, if expenditure was not increased, of about £30,000. Right through there was a tendency to under-estimate receipts from various sources. ’Phe airport, conveniences, heavy traffic fees, libraries and other items should alt produce more revenue. In addition, the petrol tax would certainly return a greater sum, possibly £2500 extra. An additional £3OOO could be expected from rents. Over and above these and other items there was the credit of over £BOOO with which the council finished the financial year ended March 31, 1937. He was astounded to hear the mayor say that the electricity department could not contribute to the general fund this year. Tbe probability was that this department would finish with u surplus of between £15,000 aud £20,000, due to increased business. The department’s profits could easily contribute £lO,OOO. lu all, the ratepayers should not be asked for more thau an additional £20,000. What Committees Have Done. Cr. I*. M. Butler said it was unfortunate the ratepayers could not be told everything that the various committees had to meet. Last year the council did more of a permanent and essential nature than ever before, aud that was worth crowing about. Some means should be adopted for acquainting citizens of what the council had done and ■was doing for them and the city. As far as lie could see every councillor had given of his best for the city, and they were now told they were extravagant. Had Cr. Chapman been present at the earlier meetings of the estimates committee of which ho was a member, said the mayor, replying to the councillor's criticism that insufficient had been allowed for revenue receipts, his suggestions could have been investigated and replied to by the committee. No more than £5OO could be expected from the airport. No one could say whether the city conveniences would return more than last year. As for encroachments, practically little or no arrears were outstanding in this respect. Heavy traffic fees were likewise difficult to assess, aiid it was doubtful if tbe council could expect more than the additional £lOOO allowed for. Cr. Chapman had expected £2OO more from the libraries, but the council should remember that tbe new private library clubs which had opened in Wellington were taking a considerable sum away from the city libraries through their competition in tbe light class of fiction. So rather than expect £2OO more Cr. Chapman should know that tbe council would probably receive £2OO less from its libraries this year than last.

The mayor answered seriatim the other revenue points mentioned by Cr. Chapman, saying that the estimates committee was amply justified in its deductions as to the probable revenue available this year. As for the surplus, said the Mayor, he could not see how the £BOOO could be put into tiie revenue for a second time after the committee bad already started off the revenue side with that amount. Councillor Chapman wanted it added again at the bottom, and thereby doubled it in a way of his own. "Referring to Councillor Chapman’s criticism that £lO,OOO should have been allowed from the elo.ctrieitv nrofits. Hie

Mayor retorted that be had. always been under the impression that Councillor Chapman had opposed the taking of electricity funds, except for unemployment relief. Council's Difficulties. Cr. K. MiKi'cn, >l-I’., said be was confident that when the ratepayers appreciated the council’., difficulties they would agree that there was no course but to increase the rates. The hospital levy alone would have meant higher rates. The council had to face up to the position and do the best it could. Ur. M. F. Luckie said that the expenditure which the council could not avoid was increased in the traffic department because of tbe 40-hour week, and that few benefits bad been gained from the extra men employed. From an engineering point of view also expenses were heavier in AAcllington thau anywhere else. Everything which could be cut down was cut fairly ruthlessly. Cr. J. Read said there were plenty of works which could have been put on the estimates. There was a good deal of expenditure for which they were not responsible, and he instanced the sinking fund and interest charges. Cr. A. Parlane said he considered that the council would be faced in the near future with considerable street maintenance. He thought that the works committee’s estimate should have remained at the original amount of £201,480. It was to be regretted that the estimates had to be cut down, said Cr. J. Burns. So far as- the reserves committee was concerned in creating reserves, it had increased maintenance charges somewhat. It now had quite a bill to meet at Karori and Oriental Bay. The danger about parks aud reserves not being kept: in order lay in consequent neglect. The cost of labour was the main trouble. Replying to the criticism by the Ratepayers’ Association, he said its members never came to council meetings, and for some time had sat back aud criticised tbe council from every angle. "Surely every reasonably-minded person will give us credit for running things as well as we possibly can under every circumstance,” he said. “If we’re not doing tilings properly, then they have the remedy when the time comes.” Cr. L. McKenzie, referring to the fact that the council had provided householders with services as cheaply as anywhere else, said that the cost of these services amounted to no more than £1 a month. “That is approximately what the rates will come to this year for the same services.” The method by which rates were struck, however, he described as a clumsy system. He thought it would be much simpler for tile council to say it had a certain amount of money available and then throw the onus of spending it upon the officers who were more familiar with t lie avenues where funds were required. "I see another difficulty facing the householder,” he said, “and that is in the rise in the cost of living. aud the far greatest difficulty is whether these increases will stop or not.” Ratepayers, he concluded. should not cavil at increased rates because it was absolutely necessary to carry on tbe work of the city. Tbe Hon. T. Brindle said he regarded the development of the city as just as essential as the development of any ratepayer’s home. He found no avenue to criticise in the estimates except that he thought it was regrettable to cut down on works and reserves;

The report was adopted after a little further discussion.