The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1929. A HIGHER RATE

Southland Times, Issue 20792, 5 June 1929, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1929. A HIGHER RATE

Ratepayers can look forward to an increase in the rates of about one-halfpenny in the £ of unimproved value this year, an unwelcome development due in the main to the necessity for finding more money to meet larger interest charges. The position is not one to inspire feelings of pleasure, but the new council has had to make the best of the situation it finds on taking office, and the best that can be said for the estimates produced last evening is that they are extremely conservative in the matter of revenue, while the expenditure, though it has been pruned wherever possible does not err on the side of being understated. The Finance Committee has not passed over any opportunity to increase its revenue, which explains the sudden change of policy which has weighted the burdens of the Public Library by imposing on it charges in connection with the site purchased by the corporation, some years ago for a new building. The committee’s proposals not only reverse the council's policy by extracting £lB7 from the Library’s funds, but also add £lOO to repay sums paid in previous years from the General Fund to meet the interest on the purchase cost. The Public Library, unlike similar institutions in the Dominion, whether run by the municipality or not,, pays rates on its own buildings and on the section purchased as a site for a new building, which means that this institution while providing a good service for the town is assisting as no other library is asked to do in keeping down the rates. This is possible because the library is endowed. This policy is dangerously close to a misuse of endowment funds and the only excuse the council can have for this policy is that it badly needs money. As a broad principle the borough should not draw anything from the institution, and it is to be hoped, when the time comes to build a new library—it must come very soon —the burgessed will remember that they have drawn heavily on the institution’s funds. Examining the estimates we see that the Electricity Department has

been drawn on heavily again which means that the users of current are paying more than they should in order to relievo the general rate. This policy has been pursued for some years and it has the authority of precedent, but it is not sound. At the same time the Finance Committee has been, if anything, top careful in the amount it has allotted for street maintenance. The sum is adequate only for stinted maintenance, and ratepayers who examine these accounts should bear in mind that the Town Engineer has not at his disposal a sum large enough to make adequate maintenance possible. This has been the case for some years past, but with the extension of the street reconstruction the position will be made a little easier. Another item to which attention must be given is the renovation of the theatre which must be undertaken in the near future. There will be some disappointment at the increase in the rates, and the attitude of the Power Bower Board may cause some misgivings, but the manner in which the estimates have been framed tempts us to believe that, with careful administration and judicious economising, some relief may be secured in the next financial year so that rates, if they are not made easier, will be stabilised at their present level.