FINANCES OF CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21165, 23 April 1932, Page 13

FINANCES OF CITY.

SATISFACTORY POSITION.

LARGE SAVINGS EFFECTED. £67,000 ON GENERAL WORKS. —tr. DEBIT BALANCES REDUCED. Thanks to a constant watch on expenditure and the steady pursuit of economies by committee chairmen and departmental heads, the City Council in the financial year just ended has reduced its general account deficit by £14,000 and the waterworks account deficit by £IO,OOO, " although revenue fell £24,000 short of the estimate and £6700 extra was spent on relief works. General works expenditure was reduced by no less than £67,000, or nearly 19 per cent. : The Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, in reviewing the position yesterday, said that at April 1, 1931, the debit balances in the general account amounted to £22,245. The estimates were framed to reduce this figure to £2279 at the end of the financial year. Although this was not accomplished, the debit balances at March 31 had been reduced to £8502, or £6223 above the estimate. Revenue Below Estimate. Revenue failed to reach the estimated amount by nearly £24,000 and £6711 more than the estimate was spent on unemployment relief works. However, reduced expenditures in other directions were sufficient to offset these two amounts after the £6223 already mentioned had been taken into account. The council's district fund bank account, excluding expenditure against loan authorisations, was in debit £6281 at the beginning of the year and £33,247 in credit at the end. The initial debit balance in the waterworks account was reduced from £27,234 to £16,435 at the end of the year, a figure £624 better than the estimate. This was done in spite of the fact that revenue was £1561 below the estimate and an extra £1946 had to be found for exchange. Expenditure on works carried out by the city engineer's department, covering street maintenance and constructional work, street lighting, relief works and the administrative costs of the department, amounted to £287,000, compared with £354.000 in 1930-31, a decrease of £67,000. The expenditure on streets, £196 a mile, was lower than at any time for at least ten years past. In 1922-23 it had been £290 and in 1927-28, £375. The Year Ahead.

The addition of Avondale, Tamaki and Orakei since 1927 had increased the street mileage from 186 to 292, the Mayor stated, but the present total annual expenditure on street maintenance was little more than before the inclusion of these districts. In 1922-23 it had been £53,000 and after rising to £74,000 in 1930-31 it had now been reduced to £57,000.

Expenditure on unemployment relief >works in 1931-32 was £53,000. There were 491 regular outdoor employees and 816 relief workers. A large number of relief works had been carried on, including improvements to parks, reserves, domains and the Waikumete Cemetery, and a certain amount of road formation.

The financial result obtained was very satisfactory, in his opinion, said Mr. Hutchison. It was most desirable that the rates for 1932-33 should be further reduced if possible, and the committees were framing their estimates with that object in view. The task would be most difficult, however, because it would not- be possible to budget for the collection of 90 per cent, of the rates due, as had been dcm« last year, when only 86.62 per cent, had been collected. To budget for 85 per cent, would mean setting aside a reserve £26,000 greater than that of last year and equivalent to a rate of An effort would also have to be made to wipe off the remaining debit balance of £8502 iu the general account.