CITY FINANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 48, 25 August 1931, Page 7

CITY FINANCE

ADVERSE COMMENT

"LIVING BEYOND MEANS"

Reviewing the past year, at the annual meeting of the Wellington Batepayers' Association last evening, Mr. Harold H. Miller, president, said that there was nothing that so quickly awakened people from a state of apathy as the realisation that demands were being made by public bodies, which would, if not checked, empty their pockets. The inaugural meeting held some months ago was the outcome of that realisation. The stress of hard times had forced individuals to stop reckless or ineonsidered spending, but our municipal politicians still found pleasure in spending other people's money. The new Government valuation of land enabled the City Council to levy an additional £68,000 rates in one_ year, and such was the state of their past commitments that in order to balance the budget this sum had to be collected at a time when rates should really have been reduced; and to make matters worse, that • rise in rates had been collected for a further year, and almost as much agaia ■was demanded this year. WITHOUT KATEPAYEKS' SANCTION. "The one idea councillors refuse to entertain," he said, "is the sensible and obvious one—to stop living beyond the means of the city. Methods of finance that would meet with the severest reprobation in the case of an individual have been tolerated in our city affairs, and. yet things that are done for the individual, or groups of individuals, must inevitably be paid for by the individual. The voice of tho boomer and the busybody who loves to spend the other fellow's money has drowned the counsels of common sense. "Loan upon loan has been raised without the sanction of ratepayers, whoso properties are pledged for repayment, and whose resources are tapped to meet the interest bill. Good roads and elaborate public construction work may be very desirable, but is it worth while to get ourselves out of the mud only to plunge into » morass of debt? "The city collects. from all source! over half a million pounds sterling per annum, spends every penny of it, and still finds difficulty in balancing its budget. The unconstitutional methods of raising loans is at the root of the trouble. Back to constitutional procedure is the citizens' only safeguard, and this must be the slogan of our association. Loans must not be raised 'without the authority of ratepayers. All schemes involving the spending of large capital sums must first be submitted to ratepayers. We niUßt stand with any council that stands right on these points, and boldly oppose any, councillor or councillors who ignora the rights of citizens on these points."-