ECONOMY IN THE CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20791, 6 February 1931, Page 10

ECONOMY IN THE CITY.

The need of relief for city ratepayers having been urged on the Finance Committee of the City Council, i<? delegated the duty of reporting on the points raised to a sub-committee. The report, which was before the council last evening, can be endorsed as a good one so far as it goes. It shows how great a proportion of annual income is absorbed by fixed charges, fixed at least so far as the council is concerned. Regarding them, the report claims that economy measures for the benefit of the city ratepayer cannot bn confined to the council—and it is quite right. All the other local bodies which use the council as an agency for collecting taxation are bound to consider also the shrinkage of the resources from which it is derived, and to explore every means of providing the muchneeded relief. To take the case of the Hospital Board, which is outstanding : all the bodies affected have answered complaints from time to time by pointing out that they simply have to collect the amount of levy demanded of them by the board, over which they have no control. The board, on the other hand, says it must levy the local bodies because it has no rating powers, nor authority to collect money from the public. Between the two the ratepayer gets little satisfaction, but the time has come when his needs and his difficulties must have more consideration than in the past. For the rest, the report admits the need for economy in the expenditure the council controls directly, but in the meantime delegates responsibility to the heads of departments, a move which will not impress the ratepayer very deeply. Regarding certain details, the schedule of forthcoming expenditure includes £40,000 for acquisition of land and roading in connection with the old railway station site. The council proposes to acquire certain property for the purposes of its scheme at an estimated cost of just over £40,000; but, according to last reports, it does not propose to bear the whole of the expenditure, since the value of the 1 Railway Department's property will bo considerably increased. It certainly should not bear it. The council arranged for a more elaborate scheme of traffic routes than the department fjrst proposed, and it was then suggested that it would have to bear some of the cost. But to have it loaded with the full £40,000 would be intolerable. The department will b# fortunate if it gets any allowance, remembering that doubtful questions are apt to bo summarily settled when private property-owners are arranging for subdivision. Here is a dii-ection in which the estimated outgoings should be capable of reduction. Another point the committee makes is that economies should be considered before the year's estimates are drawn up ; it is a sound suggestion, though not original. However, the dominating factor is that some relief from the burden of. local taxation is imperative, and it is for the council to devise ways and means. That is its responsibility, which it can in no circumstancos escape.