LOCAL BODY FINANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18049, 24 September 1920, Page 5

LOCAL BODY FINANCE

CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTIES.

PROPORTIONATE ALLOCATIONS.

(Fkom Ode Own Cobeespondent.) AUCKLAND, September 23. -Lhe question, of local body finance was referred to ui a statement yesterday by Mr James Wall, chairman of tho Waitomo Oounty Council, who has just been to Wei-' lington on county business. Ho said that tho Minister of Public Works had informed him that next year he intended to classify counties and mako proportionate allocations, leaving tho county councils tho ta*k of allocating money to particular works deemed most urgent. "If a countv is sav in the £20,000 class," Mr Wall explained! X take it that that sum will bo allocated, and then the council must re-allocate the amount to respective works." At present all details had to be submitted, both engineering and financial. If tht new scheme were adopted tho engineer's plans would still have to be submitted for approval by the department, but the responsibility for allocating money to a particular work would rest on tho council. The Minister's reason apparently was that tlie council was in a better position to know what works wore most urgently needed. Personally he welcomed the proposal, in that it would place local bodies in a more definite position with regard to finance. Tlio, Minister had leferred to a number of votes passed from year to year, but never spent. That he said, was detrimental to the department it had to provide money against "those votes, and if a vote was not spent the money was lying idle. If the county had accumulated votes and could not see any prospect of spending the money in- tho year, but had other work of an urgent nature in view, it was proposed that it should bo permitted to do that work by the transference of fhc idle vote to tho "more urgent work. This Would bo done with tho°full understanding that- the original vote would be re-instated in the following year, so that no injustice would be suffered by the settlers.