NAPIER BOROUGH FINANCES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 220, 3 September 1929, Page 7

NAPIER BOROUGH FINANCES

STATEMENT ASKED FOR CR. MARTIN'S MOTION. CARRIED WITHOUT DISCUSSION. “I regret being under the necessity of asking the town clerk for this return because 1 realise how fully his time is occupied, and my only excuse for so doiug is to combat erroneous ideas which are prevalent among the ratepayers consequent on the Mayors’ alarming statements which he is reported to have made regarding the finances of the borough at the last meeting of the council,” stated Cr. W. Martin as the Napier Borough Council’s meeting last even,ng in introducing the following motion, of which he had previously given xitice: — “That the town clerk be requested to prepare a statement of the borough hnances for the current yea> and show m each ease where the expenditure for the past tour mouths, r.e., one-third ot the year just naw completed, has exceeded the one-third of the estimates for

the current year.’’ “His Worship is reported to have stated, 1 ’ continued Cr. Martin, “that the council had got behind to the ex tent ol £I2,UUO, which he afterwards amended to £iO,btX), and that couuciuois would have to put tueir hands m their pockets to make it up. We started, said the Mayor, £OOOO to the bad, and since then had been spending £liWo a month more thau we ought to Lave done during the past lour months.

"Lt the Mayor is correct in hese .-tateuieuts, there is much room .or alarm, lor the Local Bodies hiuance act IV2L-LU22 Section d, ouu-sectiou v, states 'that it shad not be lawful lor a local authority to owe uudei tue authority ot this section at the end ol any year, on its Ueneiiii Account, or on any seperate account, any sum greater thau such part of the revenue ol the yeai then ended, •is icmaius outstanding and unpaid .ind properly payable on that account.’

“Probably what has given rise to the discussion of the tinaucial post u,on was tue discussion by the tow i> clerk of the outstanding collectable assets of £9179, and this matter was mentioned by the town clerk in a letter to the Mayor dated July 6, 1929. The summarised position is that the debit of the General Account at the end of the year was £6908; against which there was outstanding assets amounting to £9179, and had these outstanding accounts been collected there would have been a surplus of £2271. “Now, in the return asked for, if in any account the expenditure for one-third of the year just now completed has exceeded the estimates for the same period, then the councillors will be wise to review the position, but if on the other hand the expenditure is within the limit, as 1 hope it will be, then the Mayor and councillors can be assured that all is well with the finjim ; al stability of the borough, and there is no need for alarm.” The Mayor seconded Cr. Martin’s motion, which was carried witnout discussion.