Big Shock In Store For City Ratepayers.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18830, 6 August 1929, Page 9

Big Shock In Store For City Ratepayers.

AMOUNT TO BE COLLECTED WILL BE OVER £44,000 MORE THAN LAST YEAR. THE RATEPAYERS of the city are due to receive a severe jolt at the beginning of next month, when the City Council will send out its demands for the current year. Not only has the amount to be collected by the general rate been increased by £22 457 3s 6d, but all the other rates, excepting the council’s special interest rates, have been increased. The total sum which the ratepayers will be called on to provide this year will be approximately £44,385 more than last year. The only gleam of satisfaction in the whole business is the abandonment of the special rate which in the past seven years has been levied for the purpose of paying off the city’s antecedent liability. This rate, which produced £II,OOO last year, is not required this year. Next year, however, it is likely to be reimposed for the purpose of providing part of the interest on the £220,000 roading loan.

It was recognised by both parties on the City Council last night, when the estimates were adopted, that the chairman of the Finance Committee had been faced with an extremely difficult task this year The calls on the council for the relief of unemployment have again been exceptionally heavy, and there are some large items of non-re-curring expenditure to meet. These circumstances, however, may not seem very satisfactory to the ratepayers when they receive their demands, especially as the revision of the valuations has been seized as an opportunity for raising the rates all round. Other Local Bodies. In addition to the City Council every local body for which it acts as rate-collecting agent has imposed greater burdens on the ratepayers of the city this year. The Drainage Board has made increases in its rates totalling £10,314, and decreases totalling £2355, a net increase of £7959. The areas which have been reticulated with the sewers in the past few years have to bear the greater proportion of this increase, but the original sewer area, which was expecting to benefit by a decreased rate, also has to provide more money. The board claims that it actually needs all the extra money it is asking for, but it is unfortunate that it should choose this year for increasing its maintenance expenditure. The Hospital Board will collect only £1262 extra this year, but here, also, a decrease would prove more welcome The Domains Board is asking for an increased levy of £429, and the Fire Board £l6O, while the street lighting rate is to yield an additional £271. Levied on Old Valuations. In the case of the Waimakariri River Trust the rates in the city were struck on the old valuations, but according to the law, they must be collected on the new valuations. The result is that the trust will receive £I7OB more than last year, which is in excess of its requirements. Unfortunately the trust fixed its rate before it realised that the new valuations would be used this year, and when the Finance Committee of the City Council asked it to reconsider the matter it was too late to do anything. A startling feature of the increases imposed by the City Council is the exceptionally large additional amount which is to be collected for the waterworks. Last year a rate of £1 6s per

cent on the annual value was sufficient to meet the needs of the waterworks, but this year the rate has been increased to £1 19s 2d per cent, which will produce £10,141 19s 3d extra. Referring to this matter the report of the Finance Committee presented to last night’s meeting of the council, stated:— “ The waterworks estimates are alfeo before the council, and provide for considerable additional expenditure which is entailed through the council having to make refunds to certain consumers who originally paid for their own water connections and for certain capital charges, and this will necessitate an increase in the water rate of 13s 2d in each £IOO of annual value where the properties are connected to the water mains.” The increase in the sanitation fee from £1 6s per pan to £1 7s 6d will not affect such a large number of ratepayers this year owing to the extensions made to the sewers. Outer Areas Badly Hit. The ratepayers in the outer areas of the city will be hit the hardest of all. Not only must they pay the genera! all round increases, but they must this year pay the interest rates on the extensions to the waterworks and much heavier rates to the Drainage Board. The only benefit they are likely to receive is the removal of the sanitation levy in cases where their properties have been connected with the sewers, but this benefit is a mere bagatelle compared with the increases they will be called on to pay. The effect on their rates will depend very largely on how they have fared under the new valuations. The City Treasurer, Mr J. Anderson, is of opinion that the special interest rates of the council will be slightly easier this year. The extension of the antecedent liability rate, which last year produced £9OOO, has lightened the burden, while the only new rate is a very small one to cover the interest on the masticator loan. Next year the council may have to resort to the rates to find some of the interest on the £220,000 roading loan.

A Bad Easter Egg! Although the rate demands will be posted before September 11, the ten per cent penalty will not be imposed on unpaid rates until March 25. 1930. The ratepayers will therefore regard the final warning issued nest year as something akin to a bad Easter Egg.