BOROUGH FINANCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 21 April 1927, Page 3

BOROUGH FINANCE.

— 7 TOWN CLERK’S REPORT. SUBMITTED TO COUNCIL. The Town Clerk (Mr H. S. Elliott) brought clown a, finance report at the final meeting of the present Hawera Borough Council held last night. The document set out the condition of the borough finances over the past twelve months. The statement read as under: — “For your information I now submit an abridged statement of receipts and expenditure for the year ended31st March, 1927. “The water account shows a credit of £3351 7s 2d, and the usual transfer of this balance to the general account, and the transfer from the latter of £lsl 13s 3d to square off the debit of the cemetery account, will leave the position of the various accounts as under, viz.: General, £4418 13s 7d; special rates (original area), £1623 5s 3d; special rates (added area), £4 9s Id; hospital rate, £690 Os lid; deposits, £6; Credit, £6742 8s lOd. (Bank balance, 31st March, district fund, credit £6170 Os 6d; amount in hand, £572 8s 4d—£6742 8s lOd.)

“There are also certain amounts outstanding which will further improve the position, the main items being: Water Account—Eates £485 14s lOd, rents (reserves) £923 15s 2d, reimbursements £l5B 17s fid—£ls6B 7s 6d. Water Account —Rates £379 Ss 2d, extraordinary supply £602 13s Bd, reimbursements £65 4s Sd—£lo47 6s 6d. Total, £2615 14s.

“The estimated expenditure in respect of general, water and cemetery accounts was £18,338, whilst, the amount actually disbursed was £13,542, being £4496 less than provided for. It was anticipated that a considerable credit balance would be in hand on March 31, but the amount exceeded expectations, owing to the fact that outgoings for public works were considerably below the estimates, also that the programme for painting a number of buildings was not carried out.”

The report proceeded to say that the estimated receipts (including the balance of £1850) re the same accounts were £18,338, and the actual amount totalled £18,261. The following statistics were given:—

Rates (General and Water), total outstanding 31/3/26, £llOl 9s 6d; collected and written off, £BSO 7s—£2sl 2s 6d; total struck 1920-27, £6753 3s 8d; rebate on prompt payment, £231 2s 4d; plus amount collected and written off, £5908 0s 10d—£6139 3s 2d—£6l4 0s 6d; total outstanding, £865 3s.

Total Rates—Struck 1926-27, £16,603 13s Id; arrears, £2556 16s lOd —£19,160 9s lid; collected, £16,492 2s 6d; -written off, £l9 11s lid; rebate, £568 10s 2d—£17,080 4s 7d; leaving £2OBO 5s 4d surplus. Rent of Reserves: With the exception of sub-division 37, the position was that there was only £ll6 7s outstanding. The total arrears of rent were £923 15s 2d (collected £3170 8s lid, written off £l7O Is 7d). The clerk also submitted an abridged statement of receipts and expenditure for the year ended March 31, as follows : Receipts. Balance at March 31, 1926, £IB2O 7s 3d; rates, £3738 6s sd; licenses, etc., £I6OO Is 2d; reserves rent, £3170 8s lid, baths £SO 8s sd; abattoir, £1307 5s 7d; park, £l6 3s; library, £518; Government subsidy on rates, £432 14s sd; rent of offices, £132 15s lOd; reimbursements, £525 12s lOd; rubbish removal, £232 12s 3d; miscellaneous, £350 6s lOd —total, £13,904 2,s lid.

Expenditure. Public works, £6025 Is; office, £1222 17s 6d; printing, advertising, and stationery, £199 10s 2d; abattoir, £1496 6s Id; baths, £lB6 19s 2d; fire prevention, £632 17s 3d; library, £620 4s od; reserves, £224 13s 9d; park, £867 16s lOd; legal, £136 Os Id; Burns Street loan instalments, £25 8s 4cl; miscellaneous, £1047 8s 8d; credit balance, £l2lß 19s Sd—total, £13,904 2s lid. The miscellaneous expenditure above includes: Band £2OO, Egnxmt National Park Board £2S, New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition £56, distribution and refunds under motor lorry regulations £174, and Boyal visit £27 4s lid. Further amounts are still payable. The reserves expenditure includes: Sub 37 (£79), Waihi (£3l). Naumai Park (£2O), memorial arch (£34), Turuturu-Mokai (£l2), and harbour rates (£29). Details of other accounts are as under : WATER. ACCOUNT. Receipts.—Bates, £3OIO Is -Id ; extraordinary supply, £1064 Is 2d; reinbursements, £2B 5s 6d; tower fees, £94 9s 6d ; total £1196 17,s 6d. Expenditure. Engineer, material, labour, tower, caretaker labour, etc., £845 10s 4d; balance transferrable to general account on March 31, 1927, £3351 7s 2d; total £4196 17s 6d. CEMETER Y A CCO U NT. Receipts—Balance at March 31, 1926, £21,2s l()d ; sites, interments, etc., £l3B 15s ; transferrable from general account, £lsl 13s 3d; total £3ll ll.s Id. Expenditure.— Custodian, material, labour, etc., £3ll 11s Id. SPECIAL AND HOSPITAL, RATES' The amounts of special and hospital rates received and expended and the balance ' (respectively) are as follow : Special.—Original area (including balance at March 31, 1926, £lOl9 17s 6d), £8662 10s fid; £2039 5s 6d; credit £1623 7>s 3d. Special.—New 'area (including balance at March 31, 1926, £69 13s), £139 12s Id ; £135 3s; credit £4 9s Id. Hospital—lncluding balance at March 31 1926, £482 0s lid, £2513 3s 4d; £1823 2s sd; credit £690 Os lid. Deposits.—TnclndimE credit balance of £8 at March 31, 1926, £22 15s; £l6 15s; £6. The report was received as presented.