BOROUGH WORKS

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14768, 6 October 1921, Page 6

BOROUGH WORKS

EXCEEDED ESTIMATES, "A LOOSENESS SOME WHERE.' 4 BHEEZE AT THE COUM3L. The Borough Engineer, in an osumate to the Council last night, statea that it would cost £l9l Ms to complctc tiic traffic bridge casement work at the east end of the structure. In ;i memo on tne estimate tne Town Clerk (Mr E. J. Uavey) stated: Prior to loan proposals suDnmiea in December, 1919, the Borough Engineer reported as follows: Proposea tnuric bridge casement estimated to cost £41)0 (figure allows for item £SO lor cutting away a portion of MCLiurrigle's corner). In the loan proposal iippears an litem, "For altera-' ti ms In bridge and street at eastern end of tralllc bndgc £450-," the council putting an amount, of £SO on tne estimated cost, on ith .lune last the B M-oii h Engineer refers to the work as follows: Traflle. bridge eascmem loan accounl), estimate, £Uh*; cost to dale, £275 9s. [Note: This work. In-gi-tn'cr with otner loan works esumiilcd in r.'i'.i. wncn the cosl oi labour was -Ms per week cheaper and cement £3 lls id less man al present', will probably cost half as mucn

again as the original estimate. I here is now submitted by tne Borough engineer to complete the/ work an estimate of £l9l lis, wtlien includes an ainounl of £65 9s, which is apparently a liability yet to be paid. The position therefore appears to be as rollows: —original estimate of l-'Joo. pins jo per cent as indicated by reporl iif 7Hi .lope. v.."i•->.">: expenditure a~ shown by hooks to end of September [subject to all accounts having been dcall with), £sOll 19s 9d; cstimatccs now supplied (including Liability iif £OS [is), £l9l lis: total, £MM Ills 9d. liriginal estimate of £350 increased by IUU per cent; reused estimate of £525 on 7/(5/21 increased hV •;:! per com. i.oan money avaiiani". £4i)(J (less'interest and sinking funu for lirsl, year. £2;")), £375, leaving an nri ••iint () f v'.'i-'ri lo be paid out of Ihe general accounl, and for which no provision was miule in this year's estimates, incidentally, the account from Mullan e'i'l Nov annears In he excessive, as boilernntkers' fomo is chargen 3 : , (id per hour, and blacksmith's time is charged at Gs per hour, whereas the award rales for both classes of employment are. I understand 2s per hour, plus .")]d per hour bonus, Statomen'. by Engheer. Mr YV. Stevens (borough engineer) pointed put lhat the men engaged by Mullan and Nov had lo be brought from Auckland, and they could not be got to work for award rates. Mullan and Noy's account had not been certified, but was merely submitted for (he purpose of framing an estimate. The accounl had Lo be revised. Cr. CI. Boyes said the estimate of three months ago had apparently been exceeded by about £l5O. Mr Stevens said a man would need to he a '.'magician to estinvite work to a pound in the present limes. The Mayor Mr .1. It. Fovy) said Ihe wh'le liiiestibn was whether tire work could he reasonably held over Mil Ihe nexl financial year, when provision could he ii iiric for il in the e-iinial.es. or whetherithey should burden Ihe, present geAcral account wth £325 —or an additional £125 for this work. Mr Stevens said the work could be completed in about a week. There was a quantity of material left over which had not been put in as a credit. Cr Tidd: And there will be plenty of little things to put on. Cr Rollelt said he formerly asked the question: "How are we going to pay for this work?" 11, seemed lo him that the least |he engineer could have done was to have come to the Council and said he had made a rnisiake. He had, instead, loaded the general accounl. wilh £325, -mil after Hie report from Hie town clerk—well it was really murder In Ihe lot of them. The speaker thought there was something radically wroiu; when they were continually limling (ml that estimates were being,exceeded and that thousands of pounds should have been put on lo these two works alone —Ihe bridge and McGarrigle's Comer —an expenditure over which the Council had no control. The Mayor said there had been a gnnrl deal of fluctuation in prices since tiie estimates were first drawn up. If Ihe work was rarrh rl mil. in a reasonable period Ihe probability was lhat the estimate would not be far out. Council to Blame. Cr Farrer thought ihe Council was to blame for no| consulting the engincer when lie' estimates were framed. The Council should nut blame the engineer fur ihe estimates being wrong, but should take the blame itself. Cr C. Boyes considered Ihe engineer bad been careless in under-estimating, in a mailer of three months, to the extent stated. Cr 11. K. Tristram said the work had to he completed, and the sooner it was dene Ihe better. Nobody could estimate three years ago whal a work was ctting to cost now. lie did not think il fair lo be always bickering at Ihe engineer. Cr .1. Cilhert said ihe engineer had been .if. a disadvantage in having had to work under several changes of Council. The Council had made mistakes Undoubtedly, but lll<W were now a

pood working team and were getting things cleaned up. and lli<\v would soon be able lo start with a Clean sheet. Or Rollott: Are you sure of that? Or Barton did not think the old Council was to blame. He thought the Council had done its very best for the burgesses, and did not think any body of men could be got to give the same amounl of time lo borough affairs, or to carry oul the work with better results.

Cr Tidd: I am sure they could not

Cr Cowry .-niil ho had no doubt the Job, when 'finished, would be a good one. The old Council did what it did in the interests of Hie borough, and with the very best intentions. There w.is a letter in •• night's Waikato Times abusing- the Council, but if the writer would come forward and put a Jit tic time himself into Council matters, tie would probably sec things differently. Councillors Doing Their Best. Or \V. I-'. Mason said there seemed to be ;i feeling in the Council that there were only several men on the Council who were interested in the financial qolvcncv of the borough. The speaker protested against, this feeling, because he was sure every member of the Council had done and was doing his }><•>:. to conserve, the finances, and th,-re was no one man deliberately seeking to waste the money of the borough. We had been living through an abnormal period and it had been ■very difficult to foresee the rise in pr;ee« of materials and labour that halT hi ken place. Probably the Council could, by special economy in another direction, be able to reduce the amount o!' this excess. Mr Rollett took exception! to Cr Mason's insinuation that the new councillors were cheeseparing. Cr Mason said he had made no such

insinuation. The Mayor also stated that that the suggestion was not as asserted. Cr Rollett said that at his first or second meeting of ihe CoancJl ha

pointed out that £7OOO was authorised for roads with no estimate of how the money was to be expended. Cr. Mason on the occasion said the Council spent £9OOO the previous year, but that there was not so much road work to do this year. Last year there was no less than £20,000 extra in connection with the overdraft. The only purpose be (the speaker) had at the Council table was to see that the affairs of Ihe borough were conducted on a proper basis. \ Cr Mason: Hear! Hear!) The Council had no right to expect to live on the bank overdraft. Instead of this overdraft being reduced, however, they were still up to the maximum for this year, and so far as he, could see, lit was afraid Ihey would be in the same position at the end of the present financial year as they were at the end of last year. Had he known these works would cost so much, in view of other commitments, he would certainly have voted against them. He did . " blame, three gentlemen on the Council for exceeding; their prerogative hy issuing instructions for the additional work at McGarrigle's corner. There was no record in the Com: 'il meeting at the | : rne of the Council having endorsed ibe additional expenditure of £6OO. Cr. Rollett added that he thought, now the bridge work had proceeded so far, it should be finished, but how they were going to make good the £325 he failed !u see. ' Cr. O. Farrar also took exception to Cr Mason's remark, adding that he thought the old Councillors were beginning to realise that the note of warning sounded by the new Councillors wrts not unjustified. Alon? with Cr. Rollett he. failed to see how the L 325 was goim? to be made up. A Point of Order. Cr Mason rose to a point of order, remarking that the matter came before the Council and the plans of the work were laid on the table. Cr. G. Roves, while taking exception to Cr. Mason's reference, added that he did not care so much what Cr. Mason either thought or said, but wliat he was concerned about was that I here had been a tremendous amount of looseness and slackness in the affairs of the borough, and he was going, if he could, to sec. things put on a bolter fooling. Cr. Mason: We all are. The Mavor said opportunity had been taken by certain members to raise the old cry out of this bridge mailer, of "I told you so." Every Councillor present, he. said, could find fault with something lhat had been done bv some previous Council, but U,e speaker agreed wilh Crs. Barton and Mason, adding that his experience durin-,' the past 12 years was that the Councils had heen selfsacrificing and well up to the average in business capacity. -\Vhen all was said and clone, the public had shown their approval time and again by their vo'ie of the Counell's administration, and thereby stated that they were not (he "chumps" some would make them out to be. A motion 'to complete the work at the bridge was carried.