City Finances Are Sound.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18452, 1 May 1928, Page 12

City Finances Are Sound.

CREDIT BALANCE OF £14,150 REPORTED FOR FINANCIAL YEAR. A credit balance of £14,150 on the year’s working was announced by Councillor D. G. Sullivan, M.P., to the City Council last night. Councillor Sullivan is chairman of the Finance Committee of the Council. Councillor Sullivan said he had been informed' by the City Treasurer that they, position at the end of the financial year was as follows: £ Approximate balance on general account 3143 Outstanding rates (approximately) 6000 Advance to workers’ dwellings loan, 1927 5007 Total £14,150 There was, therefore, a credit balance of approximately £14,150 available to meet payments during the coming year. The credit balance at the beginning of the financial year was £6523, and the liabilities at the beginning of the financial year amouted to £7754. This result had been achieved without taking from the electricity account the amount of £BOOO provided for in the estimates of receipts, and which it w r as proposed to transfer temporarily to the district fund, should that be necessary, in order to avoid increasing the rates at an economically inopportune time. “ There are some liabilities the extent of which I have not been able to definitelv ascertain to set off against the £14.150, but I am informed by the Treasurer and the Town Clerk that thejr are not large, and that the surplus for the year will be substantial,” Councillor Sullivan added. “In any case, substantial liabilities from the previous year have been met from the revenue of the year just closed. The balance includes the sum of £SOOO transferred from the quarries account. With a balance of approximately £14,150 available to assist expenditure during the coming year, the position is satisfactory, and I wish to congratulate ,tli e various committees, the council as a whole, and its officers on the great care with which they have supervised the expenditure.

“ When the estimates for the year were drawn up the estimated expenditure exceeded the estimated receipts by an amount of £BOOO, which it was proposed to borrow from the Electricity Department rather than increase the rates. Without having borrowed that amount, we carrying forward, including £6OOO uncollected rates, the sum of £14,150. We were therefore, at March .31, better off to the extent of £22,000 than we anticipated would be the position.” In case the argument was used that the substantial balance carried forward was at the expense of work not done, Councillor Sullivan quoted figures showing the expenditure over a series of years, and declared that the whole of the works expenditure for the past year exceeded the works expenditure over a series of years. When the estimates of receipts and expenditure were before the council, a proposal to transfer the sum of £BOOO from the electricity account to the district fund account for the purpose of saving an increase in the rates a good deal of criticism was directed against it by certain of the newspapers and some members of the council. Therefore he wished to direct the attention of some members of the council to the fact, which he had discovered accidentally, that in the 1914 accounts the following item appeared in the electricity account: “ Transferred to the general account for the relief of rates, March 31, 1914, £2231 14s Id.” Councillor Sullivan said that he wanted his friends who criticised the proposal to realise that in 1914 the party then in power transferred money from the electricity account to the district fund account. Councillor E. 11. Andrews: We were not here then. ('ouncillor M. E. Lyons: I bet you didn’t like the proposal at that time. Councillor Sullivan said that his point was that a proposal which was regarded as outrageous in 1927 was not considered wrong in 1914. Councillor Andrew’s: There were no parties then. “ Oh, yes, there were,” retorted Councillor Sullivan. “ There have been two parties since 1911.” Councillor Sullivan went on to say that he had before him details of the estimates of receipts and expenditure, of the Wellington City Council for the current financial year. The Wellington City Council, on which there were only two Labour representatives, had done this year the very thing which it was considered so wrong for the Labour majority on thje Christchurch City Council to do, by transferring the sum of £20,000 from its Electricity Account to its District Fund Account. The proposal which has been so strongly condemned by the opponents of Labour in Christchurch had already been carried out in Christchurch in 1914, and was still being carried out in Wellington and Dunedin. Councillor Lyons: Do you contend that three wrongs make a right? Councillor Sullivan: My contention is that so far as I can discover anything this side of the table does is wrong and anything the other side does is right. However I have not raised ’ this question for the purpose of a 1 controversy. (Ironical laughter.) 1 Councillor Andrews: I thought you had changed your coat. Councillor Sullivan concluded by re- ' marking that he thought the council ' could be congratulated on the satis- ' factory position of the finances. * Councillor Andrew’s suggested that • the statement should be typed out and : copies supplied to each councillor. On • the face of it the statement sounded all right and he was prepared to congratulate Councillor Sullivan and the council as a whole on the position of * the finances. : Councillor IT. T. Armstrong, M.P.: The fact is that we have got about : £20,000 more efficiency. : As for the question of transferring money from the Electricity Account - to the District Fund Account, said '■ Councillor Andrew’s, it was quite beside : the point w’hat somebody else did a ■ century ago or even two years ago. I Because Wellington and Auckland ' adopted that, policy it did not follow that it should be done in Christchurch, t Ilis argument was that instead of tra ns's ferring the profits of the Electricity r Department to the General Account i they should be used for reducing the J charges of electricity to the consumers. Councillor Armstrong said that at

was appointed chairman of the Works Committee he was by no means satisfied with the amount allocated to the Works Department. But it had been possible to carry out their programme and make savings that were not at the expense of efficiency. Councillor P. W. Sharpe said he wished to congratulate the “ Minister of Finance ” on the satisfactory position and also on the fact that it had not been necessary to take any money from the Electricity Department. With regard to the works expenditure he wish* ed to say that he had never at any time during the past thirteen or fourteen years seen the roads in better condition than they were in at present, and he travelled about Christchurch a good deal. Councillor G. Manning: You can’t come down Spreydon much. Councillor Sharpe said he w r as not referring to the roads broken up by the Drainage Board but to the other roads in the city. It was decided to have Councillor Sullivan’s statement typed and copies -aupplied to each councillor.