PATEA BOROUGH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 10

PATEA BOROUGH

COUNCILS YEAR IN REVIEW In his annual report to the Palea Borough Council, the town clerk, Mr. Austin, referred to the further increase in the valuation of the borough during the year, the figure now stand- 1 mg at £20.915 compared with £15,100 < ten years ago. A proposal to adopt the system of rating on the unimproved value had been rejected by 1 116 votes, over 80 per cent, of those entitled to vote recording their votes. Each £1 of rates collected was . spent in the following manner: Interest and sinking fund (out of rates only). 14s 22d; water supply and sewage disposal, 4s 91d; other purposes. IHd. "The 112 d for other purposes provides a total sum of about £223 which has to meet the cost of streets maintenance, administration. library, street lighting, sanitation, insurances, hospital levy, valuation expenses, legal costs, upkeep of reserves and rest room and the host of other expenses which a local body has to meet each year." stated the town clerk. "The extra has to be found out of what incidental receipts the council has and by transfers from trading accounts. Were it not a fact that the council has profitable trading undertakings, th? rating position would be infinitely worse than it is to-day. It is a matter for regret that an increase in the rates had to Im* recommended last year but this was rendered necessary by increased wages and materials costs added to a sharp rise in the amount of hospital levy. In six years, the levy increased from £5O 9s 6d to approximately £247, an increase of about 420 per cent." Other points in the town clerk’s report were:— “Town Hall. Lengthy discussion took place during the year with regard to the policy of the council at the expiration of the lease of the Town Hall in August, 1940. but no finality has yet been reached in the matter of a new lease. The debit in the Town Hall account has now increased to £412 0s Bd. "Cemetery.—Costs in connection with the cemetery have increased enormously in the past two years and. instead of being more than selfsupporting as was previously the case, it is now a burden upon the rates. It was found necessary to transfer the sum of £270 10s 9d from the general account to meet the deficiency on the year’s working. The whole of the dead and dying trees on the western boundary were felled and the firewood obtained has been nearly all disposed of. The cemetery is now a credit to the town and looks better than it has ever done before. "Municipal Houses.—A transfer was made from the general account to meet the deficiency in this account. This deficiency has been accumulating over the past 18 years and it is gratifying that it has now been cleared. During the year a demand was made by the Department of Health for extensive repairs to one house following upon a case of infectious disease. A proposal to add an enclosed sun-room to the other house was postponed until this month and requires to be discussed at this meeting. “General Account.—The general account opened the year with a credit balance of £1352 6s and closed with a credit of £302 2s lid. Considering the fact that £2161 8s 5d was transferred to meet deficiencies in separate accounts, this position must be considered as being entirely satis- , factory. The total receipts, including i

a transfer of £1434 18s 6d from the electricity supply account, were £4694 17s lOd and the expenditure, including the transfers to separate accounts referred to above, was £5762 15s Id. The sum of £2685 3s 6d was paid out in unemployment relief wages during the year. “Water and Drainage.—An increase in debit to £1264 7s Id was recorded in this account but a transfer of £lOOO has been made from the general account to relieve the position. The increase in the deficiency is due to the fact that ordinary power rates are now charged for pumping water. A large number of new connections had to be dealt with during the year and extensions were made to both the water and sewerage systems to cater for the State housing block. “Library.—On September 1 last, the council resumed control of the public library and a great improvement is evident in this service. When the council took over there were 100 financial subscribers and to-day this figure is 138. The council has ” added 354 books, including 51 suitable for children, and has more or less concentrated upon building the educational section of the library. It is this section which it is the duty of the library to provide more than fiction and my opinion still is that the library should be made free as far as informative and educational literature is concerned and a charge made for all fiction.”