BOROUGH FINANCE

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7719, 13 May 1916, Page 3

BOROUGH FINANCE

MAYOR’S ANNUAL STATEMENT., SMALL INCREASE OF RATES PROPOSED. At last night’s meeting of the Waipawa Borough Council the Mayor presented his . annual statement on the borough finances. He said 9-£ PUBLIC DEBT. The public debt of the borough now stands at £41,798 14s 10d, against which are sinking funds accrued amounting to £1329 17s 10d.. . GENERAL ACCOUNT. * This account is in debit £593 4s; Id, as against £621 3s lOd last year. The chief item of extraordinary expenditure was £lO5 13s, for piasio and alterations to the municipal = buildings, and there was also an amount of'£74 paid to the County Council in connection with the upkeep of the traffic bridge. These items will not be recurring. Wages and material for general purposes absorbed £827 17s 2d, street lighting £ll2 10s, hospital levy £9l 3s 2d, and interest on old Town Board loan £52 5s Id. In connection the three last mentioned items it should be remembered that the Council does not collect any separate or special rate to cover this expenditure, hence the appearance of these items in general account. The particular items in receipts that I may mention are £B2B 15s 7d general rates, £3l 0s 6d outstanding general rates, £206 5s theatre, £233 8s licenses. At this stage I may state that as the roads and streets loans works are about completed a heavier charge for maintenance will have to be met out of general funds during the coming year, and I think it will be necessary to increase the general rate from l£d to l|d. Personally, I think we have got along very well during the two years on a l£d general rate, but we must provide for the increased cost of maintenance and* incidental wages. TOTAL RATE. Provision will have to be made to meet interest this year on the Coronation Park loan and also the drainage completion loan, therefore I propose to increase the total special rate from 2£d to 2jjd, thus bringing the total rate for all purposes to 4£d, an increase on last year’s total of £d, or equal to 4s 2d in the £IOO unimproved value, or £1 17s 6d as against £1 13s 4d. GASWORKS. It will be noted that the gasworks account is in credit £235 8s sd, the credit balance last year being £49 10s. In addition to this splendid credit balance, Council has coal on hand to the approximate value of £3OO. During the year the retorts will be repaired, an order having been placed by the engineer for this purpose. This expense can be easily met, and proper provision can be made this year for the creation of a reserve fund. I may state that last October the Gas Committee made a recommendation, which we adopted, that £IOO be set aside for this purpose. Upon completion of the repairs referred to the fund can be definitely created. In view of statements recently made that no proper provision has been made for repairs, etc., I think the sound state of the gasworks account is sufficient reply. Further, the matter of a reserve fund is a settled matter with the Council.

I think the Council should strive to maintain its reserve stock of coal as a necessary precaution, and in view of the difficulties, experienced by some local bodies that adopted oil gas, I think the Council has every reason to consider that the town has benefited as the result of the Council’s policy in adopting coal gasworks. For the present I do not think the Council can reduce the price of gas, in view of the increasing cost of coal and wages, but I hope that "after another twelve months some reduction will be made. The interest on the coupons is paid up to the Ist of January, and we owe about £2OO interest, but it. will not be shown until the Ist of July. That is the reason for not making a reduction. WATERWORKS.

The debit in this account now stands at £2l 6s lOd. Three years ago the debit was £422. I think this is an improvement that deserves some mention. As it is not likely that any extraordinary expenditure’’ will have to be met by the waterworks department during the year, the account should be safely in credit next March. There are now 136 meters installed. LOAN WORKS. The drainage construction loan account is in credit £426 2s sd, which is available for extensions of the sewerage system. Recently several connections have been made as the result of the Council notifying owners to 'connect, and shortly the whole of the residences in the borough will be connected. Tho roads and streets improvement loan is now exhausted, and those street works now in hand will be met by general account The expenditure so far on Coronation Park (including purchase) amounts to £622 10s lid, leaving an amount of £337 9s Id available for ground improvement. This work should be completed within the.next few months. So far we have been unable to place the debenture loan but have been able to get the money from the bank, although at a slightly higher rate. Wc shall have to make some improvements at the park. The pavilion requires either moving to another site or a verandah built to it. This disposes of the whole of the Council’s loan undertakings GENERAL, An adjustment that I might recommend is that of the clerk’s salary £(55 be charged to gas account and £l3 to waterworks account, that £26 of the overseer’s salary be charged to the latter account also, and £lO to the cemetery account. This is only to make each department carry its share. In conclusion, I think the Council can claim that its administration lias continued to develop along steady and progressive lines, and that none of its undertakings have failed. I must thank all' councillors for their help during the past year, and I look forward to a continuance of the spirit * now existing.

COUNCILLORS’ COMMENTS. Cr. Bloor congratulated the Mayor on his statement. He was pleased to hear it was proposed to put more life into the Recreation Ground. It was really time something was done in that matter. Cr. Witherow thought the report highly satisfactory, but thought this the wrong time of the year to make Improvements at the park. He would suggest that they be left till the spring. Cr. Ratljbone regretted that it would be necessary to raise the rates, but the position seemed inevitable, and he hoped that next year they would be able to reduce them again.

, Crs. Hunt, Pellow, and Bre.wer also added their congratulations. The said the increase in the general rate (id) was very small, representing only £l3O. The other farthing was necessitated owing to the failure to place the debenture loan. “We don’t .wknt to go out of office leaving things in a bad way,” said the Mayor. “We want to leave them as we would like to find them.” The report was adopted. INCREASED RATE, v After the ordinary business of the meeting had been disposed of, the Mayor gave notice of his intention to mo.ve at the next meeting that the general rate for the ensuing twelve months be l|d (an increase of id), and the special rate 2fd (an increase of Id). If councillors had any objections to make, he asked them to state them, as if the proposal were defeated at the next meeting it would mean that the | proceedings would have to be gone I over again. Cr. Pellow seconded. Cr. Craig did not think it advisable at the present stage to increase the rate, and moved, as an amendment, that the rate be the same as last year. Cr. Rathbone, to test the feeling of the meeting, seconded the amendment. Cr. Bloor pointed out that the Council struck a lfd rate two years ago and reduced it last year. Councillors must remember that they had to pay a higher rate of interest to the bank, and it was possible that this may yet be higher still. A lfd rate was, after all, very low, and there were very few local bodies able to work with such a small one. The amendment was lost, only the mover and seconder supporting it.