BOROUGH FINANCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 10 April 1908, Page 5

BOROUGH FINANCE.

The borough' balance-sheet' for. the year ending March 31 was laid on the table at Wednesday night's meeting of ' the Council.' "' . The Mayor said the balance-sheet was a lengthy document, &ndi he ' did not intend to go jtbx6ugh n :itrfse'riatim.Just.by .way 1 of; r comparisoß;he "would "like -to .give f one,,or ,two fignreis. . The general "account 'iii.1907". showed! 'a debit of £2465, -and v the 'wa^fcer account a debit of £39f51'3i. ' For 'the' year just ended the general account Stood' at a debit of .'£1417; :6s: 6s and the water account in credit of £4. 7s. 6d. The cemetery account, , showed a credi^ of £56 4s '3d. over 1907. .The grand total on the r year' s,working ( showedr an, r improvenientjqf^isp^lls 6d., Of course it had to -be~ taken into /account that there had been an increase in -the 'rates of £902, caused JbythAjnereased Evaluations. He would li&e;. also /Ao' point out that, the .sum of f >£§OQ, hadjjheen repaid, vi conn^ctwn wjft]| tlje, connectiens account,.. wnich/at thp present time stood ui' credit -> at Going to the receipts arid"' ; expe^i3i^ure for the year they -found? "that the receipts were: On the" general account £5432, arid on, the water acpQunt £2177 14s 7d, making a total of £7609 14s 7d. The estimated receipts wei;e r £7423 ; ;7s 7d, ' t^ns showing £1?6 JTS oyer ,"t]be amount estimated. 'Hie' estimated expenditure was £7404 10s, and the-ac-tual expenditure of £6264 10s. J li must be taken into account, that several amounts, such as £500 *for :the boundary roads, £75 for jpaintjng and repairs, £25 for plans, and £40 for Rotokare rent, in the estimated expenditure refund, had not' been paid out, and allowing for these* with all the other worka done, they were within £500 of the estimated expenditure. Comparing the rates levied for the two years it would be found that for 1907 the general rates . were .£1959 3s, for 1908 £2580 los 3d, or an increase of £621 12s 3d. The water rate for 1907 was £981 12s 3d, and'for 1908 £1262 18 a: 7d, being an increase .of £281 6s 4d. Outstanding rates ,were as follows:—^-Gene-ral rate,, 1907. £45 :19s 7d, 1908 .£57 12s 3d; water rate,, ,190,7 £25 Is IJd, 1908 £39 13s sd; rate,' J9p7 £893, 1908' £869. .TKeV'tbtal 'amount collected of the outstanding rates for 1907 was £71 Is 8d out^of a "6f £79 11s lid. So far as the btitstandi mg rates for 19Q8 were concerned they had all been • either > collected since the close of the financial year or arranged fori. •, . v : -„ HIGH .STREET. ; , , The Mayor, referring to -works that" ought to be shortly, .said the most important were -the roads. There was no doubt they needed to be done, but it was a question of ways and means. Such streets as Wilson street, upper part of High street and Waihi.road otj^ht, to be .don?. These could he made good roads with pit gravel At a cheaper cost than . with meta\V I* would be understood by the Council tv ** 1* would ,be practically im r possible to do them with the broken metal at the price' it cost at the present time, namely, fo.? .Sd per yard plue. the* cost of spreading. It had been the experience in the p&si that pit gravel had made good roads' w'luch had carried a large amount of traffic. Then there was particularly that portion of High street from Princes street to Wilson s street. The experience of •the past was that to lay that portion down in the metal th?y had formerly 'used was false' economy. The metal seemed to break Tip' into dust, arid then mud followed., The Council should Seriously consider the economical -side, and pither lay the road down with asphalt: or wood blocks. So far as financing the work was concerned, from, the, figures quoted they would see' thai there . would be revenue coming in which would enable them to consider' if. it .would be wise policy to raise 'the necessary money from the bank by-way" of overdraft, • Itw.ould not . necessitate • the raising of a hew Joan. , They would be able' to refund a very large proportion' of the overdraft from ordinary revenue.' The carrying out; of the work' by overdraft provided for by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1900. It would be for the Council to consider the whole matter, and he would recommend that the Finance Committee* in conjunction with the Works Committee, bring down a scheme immediately. In -conclusion he moved a motion appreciative of the Town Clerk's work during the year. Cr Hurrell seconded. - Cr Campbell supported the motion with reference to the Town Clerk, but he could not see his way to acquiesce in all the other remarks from ' the Mayor. The Council, he claimed,- had not done their fair share of work- in respect to the streets, etc., during the present term of office. When the win^ ter came on they .would, find; that things were not as "rosy" as. His Worship had led them to believe," The schedule of works had not been nearly completed. However, he would not say anything further jußt then, but would leave his remarks for a future occasion, perhaps. The motion was carried. ,„