£18,411 IN RATES COLLECTED SO FAR BY BOROUGH

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 September 1949, Page 5

£18,411 IN RATES COLLECTED SO FAR BY BOROUGH

The Greymouth Borough Council’s experiment in introducing the 24 per cent, discount on the consolidated rate was an unqualified success. This was the first year that the scheme has been tried in Greymouth and the public were not slow to give their support. When the Borough Council office closed on Thursday, which was the last day on which the discount was claimable, £16,249 17s 4d had been received in payments within the town of Greymouth, while for Cobden the total receipts were £2162 2s 7d, making an all-over total of £18,411 19s lid. This represents approximately half of the total rate levy. Some idea of the advantage, of the scheme, apart from the discount granted the public, can be gained from the fact that in the previous financial year the council had to -wait until March before the same figure, approximately, as the amount received up to Thursday for this year, had been collected. This means that the council this year, is about five months "ahead” of other years in rate payments.. - ..Referring to the success of the scheme today, the Town Clerk, Mr N. E. Clemens, expressed appreciation of the response made by the public. "This will tend to ‘spread’ the' collection of the remainder of the rates over a wider period and will relieve pressure on the council’s staff in later months,” he said.