CIVIC FINANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19787, 10 March 1927, Page 6

CIVIC FINANCE

' THE LATEST RETURNS J BALANCE-SHEET FOR 1926. ) The balance-sheet for the city of Wanganui for the year ended March 31. ; 1926. has been published and at a • special meeting of the Council held on B Tuesday night the balance-sheet was approved subject to the rectifications of i. certain matters which had been taken ' exception to by the Auditor-General. The items referred to were the bank 1 overdrafts on the £12,000 drainage loan. £20,000 Castlecliff loan, and the £50.000 » IGonville loan account, which were without statutory authority. A feature of [ the balance-sheet was the fact that ap--1 proximately £65,000 was spent in inl terest and in some eases sinking fund. . on the various loans. The net public i debt stands at £1,079,878 19s 2d. The general account in the district fund account showed that the year was commenced with a credit of £llB 4s 5d . which was increased to a credit of ■ £1037 19s Id on March 31, 1926. Chief - among the items headed receipts wore > general rates, arrears and penalties ‘ £43,413 4s 9d, rents from reserves ■ £4449 6s Sd, license fees £3795 14s, re- ■ imbursements for private work £3559 * 2s 9d, repayment of mortgage on the ■ Sarjeant estate £3491 2s. The actual ’ receipts amounted to £67,399 8s 6d. Ou the expenditure side some of the larg- . est items were salaries and Mayoral allowance £3826 13s sd, administration £3276 Ils 7d, works and services £35,467 19s, reserves £6574 Ils 2d, pri- ’ vate work £3849 18s lOd, Eire Board levy £3631 5s and subsidies £575 3s lid. The actual expenditure amounted to £66,476 14s. ’ Cost of Rubbish Collection. It is interesting to note that under the heading “works and services,” on ’ the expenditure side of the general account, £17,962 6s 8d was spent on streets ’ and footpaths, while plant and tools ' cost £3112 5s 7d. Rubbish collection and scavenging, two very necessary works in any city, cost £4458 12s 3d ' and £lOlB 7s respectively. 5 Detailed statements of the. positions j of the various accounts arc shown separately. The tramways account makes very interesting reading indeed. A debit of £2455 7s Id is shown. Included in the receipts are sums of £41,900 3s and £2807 5s 6d for car and bus fares respectively. The biggest items on the expenditure side of the account are traffic expenses £11,590 7s sd, repairs and maintenance £10,921 14s 7d, interest on various accounts £15,609 15s 3d, and sinking fund £4900 18s, making a total of £20,500 approximately. Altogether the revenue for the year totalled £55,883 10s 5d of which £4973 0s 2d comprises interest and sinking fund from the Wanganui Rangitikei Electric Bower Board and £3500 transferred from the discharge of liabilities loan. - The tramways working account showed i an excess of income over expenditure of £5960 16s lOd to which is added the I Power Board rate of interest £1717 19s )'2d and arrears in rates, £B6 14s lOd. - After deducting interest £15,609 15s 3d - and sinking fund £4900 18s, a loss of £l2 745 2s 5d is shown on the appro priation account. On the tramways balance-sheet the credit balance of 1925 of £7132 9s 4d is completely wiped out by the appropriation account debit balance, and a loss of £5612 13s Id is shown. A statement for the year for which the. accounts are rendered also makes interesting reading. It show?! that at the beginning of the standing rates amounted to £4167 Is, while £964 Ils lid was remitted or written off the books. The amount of rates struck and rates recurring amounted to £83.314 17s, while during the vear £83.134 Ils 7d was collected. The actual amount outstanding at the end of the period was £3352 1 1