HOSPITAL LEVY

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160725, 11 August 1920, Page 11

HOSPITAL LEVY

REPLY TO COMPLAINTS, POSITION OF THE BOARD. Since the Wanganui Hospital Board made its levy on contributing local bodies for the current year, several complaints have been made by the latter about the greatly increased amount of their contributions to the Board’s funds. A “Herald” representative approached the secretary of the Board for an, explanation from that local body’s point of view, whereupon Mr Kerby made the following statement:— “When in April, 1918, the estimates were framed for the twelve months to end the following March, 1919, no one thought that the year 1918 would be visited by such a distressing epidemic which was a severe tax on the finances of all Hospital Boards, as no allowance could be made in the estimates for such expenditure. The epidemic was also a tax on the Charitable Aid during that period. It is true that the Government paid all temporary hospital expenditure, but not extra expenditure incurred at the Public Hospital. The end of March, 1919, left the Wanganui Hospital Board with a considerable overdraft, and in framing the estimates for the following year ending March, 1920,' I allowed for this overdraft to be paid. The Board considered that the estimates were too high, and I was instructed to reduce them, with the result that at March, 1920, the overdraft is in the vicinity of £BOOO. “In framing the estimates for this year, I allowed £4OOO to pay off half the overdraft, but the Department would not pass them unless I allowed sufficient to pay the whole of the overdraft —£8000; its reason being that next year the Government’s new scheme would very likely be in operation with regard to subsidy on levies, whereby my Board will receive considerably more than it has this year. I have a letter from the Department stating that my Board’s rate of levy this year is lower than that levied by most Boards the size of this one. “I would further like to add that for the 12 months ending March 31st last, I have collected in our hospital district the sum of £5020 in patients’ fees.”