INCREASED RATES

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 138, 11 June 1920, Page 10

INCREASED RATES

ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL

INCREASE IN WAGES AND COST

OF MATERIAL

Although the City Council will find it impossible to undertake any new works out of revenue, an increase in the general rate has been found , necessary. The generall rate adopted last night was 3d in the £, an increase of id. The rates recommended by the Finance Committee were as follow : : — CITY RATES. On "Unimproved Value—General, 3d* (producing • £146,307) ; City Improvements Loan, 15-200 d (£2920); Sanitation Loan, No. 1, 49-200 d (£9705); Sanitation Loan, No. 2, 7-200 d (£1586); Consolidation Loan, 20-200 d (£3940); Library, 17-200 d (£4150); Melrose Improvements Loan, 63-200 d (£1883); Outlying Districts Drainage, 160-200 d (£6040). On Annual Value.— Water Rate, 2J per cent. (£29,300); Hospital and Charitable Aid, 6Jd (£35,513); total, £241,644. Onslow Special Rates.—Works Loan, 48-200 d (£443); Catchment Area,. No. 1, 51-200 d (£228); Catchment Area, No. 2, 21-200 d (£92) ; Public Hall, Khandallah, 48-200 d (£95); Ka-iwarra Drainage, 66-200 d (£47); total, £905. Karori Special Rates.—Tunnel and Road Improvements, 16-200 d (£163); Tunnel and Road Improvements, No. 2, 8-200 d (£81); Tunnel and Road Improvements, No. 3, 9-200 (£91); Road Widening and Purchase of Recreation Ground, 132-200 d (£1348) ; Completion of Road Widening, 38-200 d (£387); Recreation Reserve Improvements, 21-200 d (£127); total, £2197. In moving the adoption of the above schedules, the Mayor stated that the main reason for the increase in the general rate was ■ the large increases in wages, salaries, and the cost of material. An increase in the general rate of one-tenth of a penny would produce £4893; of three-tenths, £14,679. However, an extra rate of 4d was necessary. Compared with last year the council would provide an additional £10,000 for street works, and there was special expenditure in other directions which had to be met. The estimates for the current year had not yet been prepared, but they were based on last, year's estimates, the estimated increase of expenditure being provided for. It was necessary to increase the Hospital and Charitable Aid rate, levied on the annual value, from 5-Jd to 6|d. Last year the money required under that head was £28,242. This year it was £35,433 12s, an increase of £7271. It had been quite impossible for the officers of the council•to prepare the detailed estimate, but when that had been done councillors would have a full opportunity of discussing the merits of the various works that would be proposed by the City Engineer. After quoting the big increases in the cost of running essential city services, he said it must be plain to all councillors that those services must be maintained at a high standard of efficiency, no matter what the cost. Business men would fully realise the extent of the extra impost on the city which had been brought about by the heavy increase in the coat of everything, and the higher wages now ruling. UNBUSINESSLIKE METHODS. Councillor Luckie seconded the adoption of the rates proposed by the Mayor. Councillor ■ Forsyth said they, should be very careful. They were asked to adopt the estimates without seeing the schedules, and it appeared to be a very unbusinesslike procedure. There must be many thousands of pounds for work place on. last year's estimates which had never been, expended. ' The Mayor : "There always is." A Councillor : "It is inevitable." Councillor Forsyth said that he had I in mind one street of which an item for its improvement had been on the estimates for five years. The street had never been improved. He reiterated that the method proposed by the Mayor was unbusinesslike. The Mayor appealed to councillors to realise that it had been absolutely impossible for the engineer or any member of his staff to prepare the detailed estimates. Councillor Forsyth said that it was not businesslike to pass- an increased rate without knowing what the money was needed for. The Mayor : "I have told you the reason for the increase." Councillor Forsyth : "Yes, in a general sort of way." He suggested that it would be much better if the engineer and his staff were relieved of a great deal of their routine work. GARMENT ACCORDING TO CLOTH. ■ Councillor Glover stated that the position could be simply put. The council would have to cut its garment according to the. cloth. The Mayor: "That is so." Councillor Glover: "Well, I don't think that is good business." The streets were not ai credit to Wellington, but the council would not be- able to ' say that more should be spent than the £60,000 set out by the Mayor. Councillor Wright said that he was as much opposed to increased rates as anybody, but now it was absolutely necessary. The £60,000 would be required for street improvements, but muoh of it would go- in wages, which had greatly increased. Councillor Frost stressed the increase in the cost of wages'and of material. If the standard of work was to be maintained, -more money must be obtnined. The cost of general street improvements, quite apart from maintenance, would be covered by a loan, and such a loan, he felt sure, would find the full support of the ratepayers. New construction works, thi/s year, could not be provided out of revenue. VALUE OF MONEY SPENT. Councillor M'Kenzie said he did not cavil at the increase in the rates. In five years—from 1914 to 1919—the general expenditure increased from £88,000 to £102,000. The expenditure on the scavenging service alone had increased one hundred per cent—from £8000 to £16,000. The Mayor: "The city is growing." Councillor M'Kenzie said that the Hospitable and Charitable Aid rate had increased 100 per cent. also. Although the. expenditure had gone up, they did not have the full reasons for the increases. It was not all attributable to labour. The Mayor : "Some to material." Councillor Chapman : "Material is responsible for more than labour." Councillor M'Kenzie: "I can't see that. We have not been getting material." (Laughter.) His point was that the council should see that the city rece.ived full value, for money spent. A more thorough investigation into the expenditure was necessary. Councillor Chapman said that he was only sorry that it . w;is necessary to strike the rates before the new valuation of the city Had been made. Some portions of the city had advanced enormously in value, and, under existing circumstances, the ratepayers were not paying their full share. (Hear, hear.) He was not worried about the increased rates, as it was more than probable that people who obtained most benefit from the city services paid the increases all the time. The rates proposed by the Mayor on behalf of the Finance Committee were t.huii put to the council nnd ndopteUi .Councillor Fowyth alone dj«ientiug,