WELLINGTON CITY FINANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9023, 9 April 1888, Page 6

WELLINGTON CITY FINANCE.

The Mayor has submitted a memorandum on finance to members of the City Council. We quote the following:—"At the commencement of the present financial year the City Treasurer will furnish to the City Surveyor a complete statement of all moneys available for the general expenditure on works during the ensuing year. The surveyor will apportion the moneys out for all the different works requiring to be done. The moneys being all allocated the Council must seriously consider whether they are justified in doing more works, and so incur a greater liability than the year's revenue wall pay for; for if more work is done, either another rate must be struck or the overdraft increased. This in now above the amount agreed between the bank and Council, and is fast approaching the legal limit beyond which the Councillors are personally liable. Assuming, as everyone else is retrenching, that the Council will work within its income, I propose that the overdraft, which now costs about £900 a year, should be paid off. To do this some of the Te Aro reclamation might be sold, or some of the Lambton reclamation might be Bold to the present lessees. Payment might remain for, say, seven or ten years at six per cent., and the conveyances might be made free of charge. In about two years' time the Council will have No. 3 reclamation finished, and it will be necessary to provide about £1800 per annum to meet the interest on the £39,000. The general revenue being insufficient, it must therefore be provided from some other source. Toward meeting this difficulty, I suggest that an oiler be made to come to terms with the reclaimed land leaseholders, so that we should reap more benefit at the present than we are doing, on the following basis: There are about seven years of the first term yet unexpired. The lessees should agree to pay an increased rent at for that period of 50 per cent., the Council to undertake to obtain Legislative sanction to give them compensation without surrender of leases, or, in other words, instead of the lessees paying 50 per cent for 21 years, they would pay it for 28 years. The effect of this, if carried out, would be that the Council would have over £1000 a year more rent, or at the end of the seven years, at the rate we pay for overdraft it would be about £11,000 ; or if allowed to remain for the second period (21.years) it would represent about £35,000; or with the increased rates which a better class of buildings would bring in, it would probably be over £40,000. During the last ten years over £40,000 has been spent in permanent drainage. This sum should nave been taken out of the capital account, but as there was no capital account or loan, it had to be taken from the ordinary expenditure for mending and cleaning the streets. I think the Council should set its face against anything that would tend to increase the present rates ; for it must also De borne in mind that the charitable rate, over which we have nc control, is likely to be increased, and there seems to be a ten* dency on the part of the Government to gradually shunt everything on the local bodies."