INGLEWOOD FINANCE

Taranaki Daily News, 3 May 1933, Page 16

INGLEWOOD FINANCE

POSITION OF THE COUNTY REVIEW OF YEAR'S ACCOUNTS. GRATIFYING IMPROVEMENT. A comprehensive statement compiled by the clerk (Mr. H. W. Martin) was submitted to the Inglewood County Council yesterday showing the financial position of the council at the close of the financial year. The statement revealed an improvement in the position which councillors considered very gratifying. They complimented the clerk on the clear way he had presented the statement. Councillors would be interested to see the tangible results of their administration in their particular areas, there being a net improvement for the year of £1709 over the four ridings, the report stated. Hie details were:—North riding balance at beginning of year, dr. £lOO3, at end of year £566, improvement £437; south riding, dr. £9B, cr. £5BO, £688; east riding, dr. £340, dr. £2OB, £132; west riding, cr. £261, cr. £713, £452; totals, dr. £llBO, cr. £529, £1709. Ratepayers should be gratified at these indications of careful management, as even with the improvement in the financial position £147 more had been expended on riding roads than during the previous year. The particulars were: North riding £756, last year £633, decrease £123; south riding, £679, £864, increase £185; east riding, £207, £245, £387; west riding, £ll7, £47; totals, £2756, £2903, £147. At March 31, 1933, the bank overdraft was £627 13s. 6d., but allowing for outstanding cheques and cash in hand it was reduced to £334 Bs. 7d. After allowing for the relief camp loan £505, Egmont Park Board balance of deposit £470, plus interest accounts in credit £5ll and sundry payments that day £572, the gross liability was £1379, a decrease of £241 as compared with last year. The hospital account was not holding its own in spite of the increase in the rate which was levied to produce £1716 16s. 2d. That was thought sufficient when the hospital levy amounted to £1512. Last year the levy was increased to £1822 by £3lO. On the levy of £1716 16s. 2d. collections were only £1503 18s. 2d., thus increasing the deficit from £403 19s. 2d. to £722 Is. An increase of a further id. in the £1 in that rate might be necessary to stop the drift. HARBOUR RATE. The council merely acted as an agent in the levy and collection of the harbour rate. A total of £1572 Bs. was collected of a levy of £1913 Bs. 4d. For the clerical work the council received £7B 12s. 4d. Of the special subsidy of 12V per cent, the council received £1902 10s. 7d. during 1931-32 and by now £1628 7s. 3d. had been credited to ratepayers. The balance now in the account of £274 3s. 4d. was the council’s own to be used as provided by the Finance Act. The net credit in the interest accounts was £5ll ss. Id. as against £968 15s. 4d., a reduction of £457 10s. 3d. That was all to the good because it was unsound finance to carry on the operations of the county with semi-trust moneys. If the interest accounts were square the overdraft would be £5ll ss. Id. more. Interest accounts in debit that caused more concern than others were Makara bridge and Rimutauteka Road £1155, dr. balance £74 10s., yearly interest and principal charges £64 15s. Bd.; Mana No. 2 £lOOO, £B7 2s. 3d., £56 Is. Bd.; Autawa and Pita Roads £2700, £ll2 17s. lid., £l5l Bs. 6d.; Norfolk West No. 2 £3OO, £3O 13s. 6d., £l6 16s. 6d,; Upland bridge £l5O, £8 Bs. Id., £lO 10s. There were credit balances of £57 18s. 7d. in respect to some of the loans matured, which would be repaid pro rata to the special ratepayers concerned.

On February 1, 1933, loans totalling £2344 2s. (Durham West No. 2, Everett No. 2, Lepper north of Hursthouse, Surrey No. 1 and antecedent liability £500), the annual saving being £ll4 Ils. Bd. On February 1, 1934, a further £1598 ss. 6d. (Surrey No. 1 additional 10 per cent., Bedford North, Toi Toi, Johns No. 2, Mangaone) would mature, relieving special ratepayers of a further £6B ~6s. 2d. per annum. The 1933 maturities would reduce the public debt of the council to £71,445 14s. 4d„ which equalled 5.19 per cent, of the rateable capital value. That was a heavy loan indebtedness when compared with Hawera county’s 1.85 per cent, Waimate West county’s 2.49 per cent and Taranaki county’s 3.71 per cent In the Taranaki province the Inglewood figure was exceeded only by Egmont county’s 6.21 per cent The maturity of the antecedent liability loan removed a charge of £5OO per annum, plus interest from the general account Nevertheless the above figures showed clearly that the council found its greatest burden in its interest payments. The future charges to general account for interest and sinking fund were £2847 7s. 2d. per annum, which was £532 10s. less than last year’s charge. The position with regard to general rates was that £7342 Ils. had been struck and £6230 10s. collected, the percentage paid being 85.08. The riding positions were as follow: North £lBO9 Is. 6d., £1471 Ils. 9d., £336 4s. 5d., 81.44 per cent.; south £2440 10s. 3d., £2144 17s. 6d., £287 16s. 6d., 88.20 per cent.; east £659 7s. 2d., £452 15s. 2d., £204 3s. 3d., 69.09 per cent.; west, £2433 12s. Id., £2161 ss. 9d., £268 2s. 10d., 88.09 per cent. The amount struck was £950 Bs. 9d. less than the previous year and a reduction of £2854 compared with two years ago. The total rates struck, including general, hospital and special, aggregated £11,710 16s. 2d., compared with £12,900 9s. sd. for the previous year, while £9748 Is. sd. was collected, compared with £11,682 Us. 'Bd. There was outstanding £1962 14s. 9d., compared with £1217 17s. 9d., an increase this year of £744 17s. The percentage of collections this year was 83.24, compared with 90.57. Arrears were £2912 2s. 10d., including £949 Bs. Id. prior to 1930-31. Revenue items were: Highways subsidies £2885 ss. 2d. (£4205 19s. 4d. last year), Public Works Department subsidy £2Bl 10s. Id. (£l9O 19s. 5d.), plant hire earnings £2585 12s. 4d. (£3060 19s. 6d.). Road expenditure had totalled £7198 (£9178). The items were: Main highways £3934 12s. 9d. (£6098 16s. Id.), main county roads £7O 13s. 9d. (£53 15s. 5d.), riding roads £2903 (£2756), subsidy portion of Government grants £2Bl £269).

Summing up the year’s operations, the report said that the results were very satisfactory. It could not be said that the council’s finances were thoroughly sound yet, but it was gratifying to note that a further improvement had been added to that of last year. Cr. A. E. Cowley said the clerk should be complimented on the very fine statement. It gave councillors a clear idea of the position. Members agreed that the statement was a very clear one. The chairman congratulated the clerk on the comprehensive nature of the report, which had entailed much work but would prove very valuable to councillors. A resolution congratulating the clerk was unanimously passed.