Evening Post. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1937. THE RISE IN CITY RATES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 10

Evening Post. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1937. THE RISE IN CITY RATES

The substantial rise in the city rates for the current year, fixed by the City Council at its meeting last evening, if far from welcome to ratepayers, was not unexpected. It was known that the 40-hour week adopted by the council last July, to come into force on September 1 last, would add considerably to the labour costs of running the city. The recent increase in the hospital levy constituted another demand on the ratepayers, and it was obvious that these two items alone, unless revenue was forthcoming from other sources or economies could be effected, would inevitably necessitate higher rates. On top of these the Mayor (Mr. Hislop), in his survey of the situation last night, enumerated other items of unavoidable expenditure, bringing the total increase of revenue required- up to £56,750 over and above last year's figures. This extra amount, the Mayor showed, could only be met by a rise in the rates, and the ratepayers consequently this year will have to face an increase of over 10 per cent. This, coming in sequence to the general rise in the cost living indicated by the recent official statement of the Government, cannot but be taken seriously by ratepayers. Their first reaction will naturally be to question the financial and economic management of the city's affairs with a view to ascertaining if there was any alternative to the action taken by the City Council in raising the : rates. Suggestions of extravagance have already been freely bandied about in certain quarters, but in such general terms that it was impossible to point to any single case in which allegations of extravagance could be maintained. In the first place, a city council cannot be held responsible for loans raised by its predecessors, yet it is responsible for the payment of interest and sinking fund on such loans. This, in itself, constitutes a heavy permanent charge on the city's rates, which can only be reduced by the repayment of old loans without the raising of new ones. This year, as the Mayor pointed out, there is an increase of £5278 in the interest and sinking fund charges due to the fact that the stormwater drainage loan for the big work from Clyde Quay to Adelaide Road, now nearly completed, is now a full charge on the city's accounts. Further, there is the library loan on which the main work has still to be done. The demand of the Wellington Hospital Board on the city has increased by £8651, now standing at £76,743. While the added expense of running the hospital may be criticised, the City Council has no option but to pay. Making comparisons with the finances of the hospital boards in the three other principal cities, the Mayor was justified in asking "whether we are being asked to find more in the levy than should be required of us." But the item stands as a charge over which the council has no control. Minor items of a similar nature, mentioned by the Mayor, were an increase of £500 in the Wellington Fire Board's levy, and a matter of £2000 to pay for the compulsory housing survey required by the Government by July this year. Of more special moment as due to circumstances over which the council has no power are the increase in wages due to the 40-hour week and amounting to £12,484 and the increase in the costs of materials required by the council, amounting to £22,900. These extra costs to the city, against which there is no redress, compose the bulk of the expenditure on which the higher rating is based. The question then follows whether any saving can be made in the actual cost of running the city, that is in the actual work of maintenance and repair and services on which the well-being of the city and its citizens depends. The Mayor answered this question fully and fairly. He pointed out that the various committees concerned had gone through their estimates again and again and had whittled them down to a. minimum consonant with the upkeep of the various essential services. The utmost that could be done left the council with the necessity of finding the extra sum of £56,750 already stated. In the discussion that followed councillors were in general agreement that the only possible course had been taken. Councillor lAppleton noted one saving that might be effected, but which he did not think that citizens would desire, lie said the works expenditure could be cut down by £4000 or £5000, if citizens were required to bring their garbage cans to their front gates, as

was done in other cities. This is a test case for economy and we agree with Councillor Appleton that Wellington would not be prepared to make the sacrifice. Councillor Chapman challenged the Mayor's statement that it was necessary to ask the ratepayers for £56,750 more money, but he failed to find support even among his fellow-Labour councillors. The contention that aid to the rates might be expected from the Electricity Department's revenue was not borne out, and the Mayor answered the suggestion that the libraries might contribute more this year by a reminder that the competition of private library clubs might result in £200 less being received.

In summing up the position it must be remembered that Wellington from the very nature of its situation and the lie of its surroundings always has been and always will be an expensive city to run from the engineering point of view. The sewerage renewal loan, adopted by the ratepayers in February last, is a recent indication of a condition of which ratepayers are fully aware. The maintenance of streets and necessary improvements that must continue if increasing traffic is to be accommodated is another item probably heavier in Wellington than in any other city of the Dominion. The progress made since the War has transformed large areas of the city and suburbs and for this citizens have had to pay, as they must pay for any good thing, in increasing interest on loan expenditure. Thus, it must be accepted, however regretfully, that art increase in the rates was inevitable this year. It will add to the burden of citizens both as residents and as business people. It will also add to the general cost of living. Thus the vicious circle of rising costs and prices proceeds. The remedy, if there is one, lies in a closer concentration by citizens not only of Wellington but elsewhere in the Dominion on civic and.national affairs and a study of the economic and social processes by which the present condition has come about. It might then be possible to effect economies and check a general tendency that leads nowhere.