HIGHER GENERAL RATE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20254, 23 May 1940, Page 2

HIGHER GENERAL RATE

NECESSARY THIS YEAR NEW WAIROA WORKS COUNTY HEAD’S VIEWS (Special to the Herald.) _ WAIROA, this day, “In view of the provision required to be made for the new road works, higher general rate will be necessary this year,” stated the chairman of the Wairoa County Council, Mr. A. T; Carroll, in his report on the years activities presented at the annual meeting of the council yesterday. There v/as a likelihood, added trio report, of the hospital levy being lower than for the previous year and it was expected that this rate could be reduced by at least id in ine .Cl to offset any increase in the general rate.

The chairman suggested that tlje bridge rate ■ be. •,not levied this , year and added to the general rate, there was a sufficient amount in the bridge fund to meet any demands made on it during the current yeqr, as the bridge-building programme was bound to be celayed due to the difficulty of securing steel supplies during the war. The bridge rate could be rfei levied when conditions became more normal and the demand on the general account for new road works slackened.

“I would ask the council,” concluded the chairman, “to give the estimates of expenditure the most careful consideration with a view to effecting all possible economies. As the result of the operations of the petrol restrictions and the slowing down of construction on some of the works on which the Public Works Department have been actively engaged during the past two or three years, traffic on roads and highways should be much lighter and maintenance costs to the council should be correspondingly reduced. Therefore, I consider it possible to reduce some of the expenditure Items, the engineer has provided for on the basis of costs of the two previous years.”