FIGURES ANALYSED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 121, 22 April 1938, Page 9

FIGURES ANALYSED

RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE. RATES YIELD £26,056. In a detailed, statement of receipts and expenditure, Mr Hardie stated that revenue from rates (the largest item in the receipts) amounted to £26,056 7s Bd, while the sum of £5500 was transferred from the electrical account and £4OOO from the waterworks account. The principal item of expenditure was £10,123 for street maintenance and allied costs, salaries aggregating £8228. The Coronation celebration expenses of £246 and the Diamond Jubilee expenses totalling £572 are non-recurring figures that are included. The analysis of the principal items of receipts and expenditure is as follows : Receipts.—Fees, licenses, etc.. £5684 Is 7d; permits to build, £557 5s lOd ; rents, £1650 10s lid; baths and lavatories, £699 9s Id; sewer connections, £462 10s; petrol tax, £5280 8s sd; transfer from electrical account, £5500; transfer from waterworks account, £4000; office expenses, £4350; general rate, £26,056 7s 8d; interest on fixed deposit, £145 16s Bd. Expenditure.—Street maintenance, including wages, materials, watering streets, upkeep road rollers, motor lorries. tractors, etc., £10,123; insurance employees, £335; street lighting, £3000; sewer maintenance, £965; stormwater drainage, £2631; part traffic manager’s salary and upkeep car, etc., £1703; salaries, £8228; printing and stationery, £488; cleaning, £294; legal expenses, £250; dog registration, £198; elections and polls, £224; Square gardens, £1478; Fire Boa.rd levy, £3390; subsidies, £852; transfer to reserves account, £2278; special work, £3834; R.S.A.. £584; Mayor’s relief, £2060; Coronation. £246; Foxton Line drain, £314; Jubilee expenses, £572; Terrace End pit. £1485. ELECTRICITY ACCOUNT. “The charges to consumers for the year just passed amounted to £62.265 3s 6d as against £57,843 17s 7d. The working expenses amounted to £37,485 19s Bd, an increase of £7200 over the previous year. ‘Energy purchased’ increased by £B7OO. Capital expenditure amounted to £6432 11s Bd,” stated the town clerk. “The estimated cost of energy purchased was £27.000 and the actual expenditure £27,300, and the estimate of income from sales of current was under £SOO in excess of the actual amount. The balance of the net revenue account was £IO,OIO 10s lOd as against £20,045 11s for 1936-37, which must be considered verv satisfactory when the substantial increase in costs is taken into account. GAS ACCOUNT. “The results of this department reflect the increased costs due to increased wages a.nd dearer coal,” stated the report. “The sum of £38,875 represented the amount of the revenue of the working account for the year just closed, compared with £35,903 last year. The increase is almost wholly due to the increased sales of gas (£i4oo) and coke (£1200). The working expenses amounted to £28,791, an increase of £3OOO compared with the previous year. “The capital expenditure incurred during the year amounted to £4550 8s 6d. The trading results show a profit of £lOBl 17s this year as against £B3l 11s 4d for the year ended March 31, 1937. Sales of gas were estimated at £31.100 and the actual sales amounted to £31,575. Likewise the showroom sales (£3257) closely approximated the estimate (£3250). The net revenue account for the year shows a credit balance of £3365 12s sd, as compared with £2771 0s 4d in 1937. The net revenue balance was slightly more than sufficient to meet the charges for sinking fund, but the debit for capital expenditure, viz., £4550, leaves the appropriation account for the year with a debit of £4045 18s 3d. The accounts owing by consumers at March 31, 1938, for g.as and electricity supplied amount to £5227 17s lOd ; against this there is a reserve for bad debts amounting to £3133. RESERVES ACCOUNT. “This department had a debit of £137 Is lid on April 1, 1937. The revenue from rents, pasturage, use of Sportsground and bowling and croquet greens amounted to £1915, camp site fees £172 3s 4d, other receipts £7B, making a total, including a transfer of £2278 from the general account, of £4443 8s 7d,” stated the town clerk. “The expenditure totalled £6039 7s 2d, details being : —Sportsground, £741 ; Upkeep Esplanade and Botanical Gardens, £1190; North Street Park, £SO; Terrace End Park, £441; Takaro Park, £513; Milverton Park, £53; salaries, £196; bowling green, £380; camp site, £102; children’s paddling pool, £417 ; municipal golf links, £209; Hokowhitu howling green, £B9B. The R.S.A. made a contribution of £75 towards the cost of the children’s paddling pool as a gesture of appreciation of the work provided and assistance given the association during the depression. The work of establishing a bowling green at Hokowhitu involved a total expenditure from the council’s funds of £1035, including the erection of a pavilion which cost £665. In addition certain work was carried out on the green by the labour employed under the Government scheme of subsidising labour (scheme No. 13). The debit balance at March 31, 1938, is £1733 0s 6d LIBRARY ACCOUNT. “The year’s income is derived from subscriptions, rates, sale of books, etc., and amounted to £2094. The expenditure amounted to £2276 18s. A special rate of three-twentieths of a penny in the £ was struck and £1347 Is 2d was collected and credited to the ac-

1 count. The credit balance on March 131, 1938, was £23 13s. WATERWORKS ACCOUNT. “The credit balance carried forward at the beginning of the year was £3120 6s lid. The revenue for the year amounted to £18,589 5s Bd, the principal items being: Water rate, £15,556; water by meter, £2321; supply to consumers outside city, £378; sale of pipes, materials, etc., £79; services, £229. “The expenditure totalled £17,308 11s 7d, as follows: —Wages and salaries, £2428; materials, £525; mains and meters, £2337; electric power, £613; artesian bores, £141; removal of silt, £131; transfer to general account, £4000; interest and sinking fund, £6353; .office expenses, £4OO. The account closed with the substantial credit of £4401 Is. The estimate for the year included provision for the expenditure of £5172 on mains extension. Of this sum only £1427 has been spent, and commitments have been made for the balance, for which provision will require to be made on the estimates for the ensuing year,” Mr Hardie stated. ABATTOIR ACCOUNT “The revenue was as iollows: Slaughtering department, £5405 14s 7d; boiling down. £3790 2s Id; total, £9195 16s Bd. The working expenses were £8754 4s 6d. The capital expenditure was nil. A comparison of the consolidated statement of profit and loss as at March 31, 1937. with chat at the same date, 1933, is as follows: 1937 193 S

OTHER ACCOUNTS. “The position of the undermentioned accounts is as follows: “Credit. —Deposit account, £3454 5s 2d; Opera House account, £1245 4s 3d ; sanitary account, £47 9s 8d; housing account, £126 15s 2d; insurance account, £414 6s 9d (excluding £8331 2s 5d on deposit with the Public Trustee.) « DISTRICT FUND ACCOUNT. “The district fund account, which comprises all the accounts mentioned, has a debit -balance of £1691 11s 2d as against a credit of £12,558 12s 5d at the commencement of the year. Moneys invested with the public trustee as at March 31 were: Accrued sinking funds, £68,103 6s lOd; depreciation, electrical undertaking, £42,082 11s 2d; depreciation gas undertaking, £20,070 19s 7d ; depreciation omnibus undertaking, £824 17s lid ; fire and accident insurance fund, £8,331 2s scl; repayment principal employees’ housing loan, £824 11s 3d ; total funds, £140,237 9s 2d. “ The loan accounts, which have no connection with the district fund account, are in credit as follow: Unemployment relief loan (£3000), £25 18s sd; electric traction and destructor loan of £24,500, £7 3s 8d; airport loan of £20,000, £I4OB 13s 9d ; Hokowhitu sewer loan of £12,000, £132 12s 4d ; housing loan of £IO,OOO, £319 18s lOd; waterworks loan No. 2, £8260, £Bl 14s 6d “The city’s contribution to the Hospital Board this year, covering capital and maintenance levies, amounted to £9141 10s lid, an increase of £213 6s 9d.” Mr Hardie, after dealing with other features, concluded by expressing appreciation of the cordial support received from the Mayor, councillors and heads of departments and thanks to the staff for the efficient performance of their respective duties. The report was formally received. Cr G. Tremaine (chairman of the reserves committee) commented that the reserves account “did not look too rosy,” but £1067 of the debit balance comprised the cost of the paddling pool (£420) and the Hokowhitu pavilion (£650). He understood these amounts were intended to have been placed in the general account. These were matters provided for after the estimates were framed, and as such did not constitute over-expenditure. The general account, of course, would have to come to the rescue of the reserves account, but Cr Tremaine desired to make the position clear.

£ s d £ s d Slaughterhouse *83 17 9 +100 17 5 Fees 4008 0 0 4014 0 0 Boiling down *410 12 6 *853 19 10 *Loss; t profit.