THE COUNTY RATEPAYER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22818, 27 August 1937, Page 10

THE COUNTY RATEPAYER

The president of the Counties' Association told its conference in Wellington that the introduetion of award rates of pay had increased the amounts paid to the outside staffs of counties 30 per cent, or at least £250,000 a year. Under the general theory that increased wages, by raising purchasing power, spread prosperity, this should be regarded as a sign of progress. To view the circumstances completely, however, it is necessary to consider the source of this additional money going into the pockets of the outside staff. The counties have one source of income, and only one, for all practical purposes. That is rating revenues, levied almost wholly upon farming land. This was recognised at the conference when it was remarked that with the burden already quoted, added to the increased cost of materials used in construction and maintenance work, county ratepayers would experience a considerable increase in the weight of their rates. In addition, they have lost one form of relief which was previously granted to them. For several years past there was paid to local authorities a subsidy of 12J per cent on rates levied on farming lands, the funds so granted to be used wholly in rebates to the ratepayers. The amount paid in this way during 1935-36 was £186,000. That measure of relief is no longer available. The sum so lost, added to the additional £250,000 burden, gives a total of £436,000 a year by which the occupiers of farming land are the worse off, from the rating point of view, than they were say two years ago. The figures are no more than approximations, but they are significant. Items like these make it easier to understand why farmers cease to discuss the blessings of guaranteed prices in order to talk of rising costs. It is just one more illustration of the truth which it seems so difficult to establish nowadays, that when benefits are distributed, somebody has to pay the price. In this instance, it is the county ratepayers.