THE CITY'S FINANCES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9317, 18 August 1908, Page 4

THE CITY'S FINANCES.

4 A YEAR'S STATEMENT. An abstract of the receipts and expenditure of the Christchurch City Council for the year ended March 31, 1908, was presented to the Council last evening and adopted. The general account showed receipts totalling £59,318 6s Id, and expenditure amounting to £89,188 4s fid. On the side of receipts, however, there were refunds totalling £1305 3s Id, and debit balances were shown of £15,386 2s 8d on the electrical plant account, and £19,528 Is 2d on the general account at March 31. On the side of expenditure transfers were shown of £4412 4s 7d to the electrical account, £487 7s Id to the destructor and sanitary works loan account, £72 12s lOd to the public baths loan, £50 to the municipal offices loan, £13 15s to the Tuam Street drain loan interest account, and £8 6s to the Tuam Street drain loan sinking fund account. ' The principal items of receipts were: — Rates, £40,485 15s 10d; sanitation fees, £6765 13s sd; licenses, £6223 13s sd; fees and fines, £153 11s; dust and refuse removal, £593 13s; asphalting, £493 2s Id i commission, £652 10s 9d ; rents, £646 12s 7d ; sale of materials, £181 4s 9d; sale of horses, £157 13s; additional. 10 per cent on. rates, £154 | 13s 4d ; subsidy on rates, £112 10s ; U6e of parks, £106 13s 4d ; services of staff to city abattoir, £147 12s 6d; sale of offal, £254 10s 3d. On the side of expenditure the principal items, including balances at April 1, 1907, of £10,901 5s 3d on the electri-. cal plant account, and £22,402 6s 8d on the general .account, were salaries and fees £3813 6s lid, office expenses £479 Is 2d, footpath and channel repair's £6932 9s 4d, scavenging £4098 12e Id, dust and refuse £2160 13s, maintenance and shoeing horses £2098 6s, street lighting £2853 2s Id. stone £7495 Is 7d, tar £1085 ss, nigh'tsoil removal £6625 9s, fire prevention £1432 Os 10d, reserves £2234 14s 9d, compensation for accidents £1137 2e 7d, housing and erecting Exhibition organ £762 7s 9d, Waimakariri power scheme £373 18s lOd, interest on overdraft and temporary loans £1091 Is 2d. The liabilities of the Council totalled £52,926 5s lid, and the assets £148,823 Is 2d. the balance of assets over liabilities being £89,896 15s 3d. The chief item of liabilities was temporary loans amounting to £31,992 2s 4d. The principal items of assets were credit balances at the bank on. various accounts amounting to £17,298 2s 7d, and genaral rates £i 783 17s Bd. The city surveyor's inventory of plant gave a value of £11,364 Is lOd. The Fire Brkades' plant is valued at £4756 7s 2d, electrical plant at £34,364 7s, land, buildings and furniture £59,247, city organ £5000, and the public baths building at £3798 5s lOd. The publio debt of Christchurch is set

down at £261,713 8s sd, on which there is accrued sinking fund in hand amounting to £511 14s 9d, and in the hands of the sinking fund commissioners £40,734 12s 4d. The loans, which run .from 4 per cent to 6 per cent, include £35,000 under the Christchurch City Borrowing Act, 1899, repayable in 1930; £35,000 drainage loan, repayable from 1922 to 1926 in varying sums, and on which the sinking fund amounts to £29,435 12s 7d; £25,000 public works loan, repayable in 1935; £25,000 special Sydenham channelling and asphalting loan, repayable in 1935; and £22,550 St Albans special loan, repayable in 1918. The rates struck during the year totalled £82,991 8s Id, and the amount collected was £78,162 16s sd~. An amount of £394 5s Id was written off, leaving an amount of £4254 5s lOd outstanding at the end of the year. The general rate levied was £40,572 19s 7d, and the amount collected was £38,674 los lid. The Drainage Board rate in the eewage area was £20,945 15s sd,

and in the rural area £750 16s 9d, and there was a special rate of £1827 8s Bd.