SLIGHT RATE INCREASE POSSIBLE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 1, 21 April 1939, Page 5

SLIGHT RATE INCREASE POSSIBLE

YEAR'S EXPENDITURE

BOROUGH IN HEALTHY POSITION MAYOR AND TREASURER REPORT Although the accounts taken as a : whole do not sustain the substantial closing balances of previous years, the financial position, of the council at March 31 last is quite sound and satisfactory, said Mr D„ V. Town Clerk; in presenting his r ~- \ port to the meeting of the Whakatane Borough Council on Monday. The various accounts comprising the general account (i.e. excludingthe electricity account) discloses cash credit balance nett of £202 < (£2337 at March 31, 1938). Defmito commitments which will be a call !• upon this balance (apart from the usual sundry creditors which are off-: set bj r amounts due to the council 1 for early payment) are the sum of' £400 eairmarked for expenditure upon 7. the Centennial Memorial Park, and the sum of £230 for the purchase ai-d installation of the water chlorinatinrf T»la.nt-

ing plant. Revenue items continued to show increases as b&s been the tendency. The main increase' is in license fees which this year total £1099 (1932, £559 1935/ £642, 1.937, £830). With respect to rat e revenues,, ratepayers in general again are to be thanked for the prompt meeting of their obligations. Rates levied during the vear (excluding native and harbour board) totalled £8315-£7917 (95.2 percent) was collected during the year, leaving a balance of £398 still outstanding., This latter balance includes rates amounting to £111 levi- ■- ed on State housing properties of which sum the council eventually will receive approximately £11." Of the £732 rates in arrears at April 1, 1938 (still excluding native and harbour board) £309, 42.2 per cent, -.vas collected during the year, £67 of old arrears definitely irrecoverable was written off, and there remains outrf f~Vir» cnm r»f . To SUlli-

, standing tne sum 01 *oou. xu - 1938-39 rates outstanding £398, arrears £356, total outstanding $752. BOROUGH WORKING ACCOUNT " s Referring to what may be termed i; the borough working account, coun- ; -cillors will find a comparison of the more important items of receipts j and payments, for this and the picvious year, of some interest . £3245

Avas available In. this account xioju Tates and subsidies (£2493 in the pre vious year), £1099 was collected in / license fees (£936 in the previous year), relief wages refund totalled '£1916 (£2774), sundry £1232 (£035) * and transfers from other accounts - £1000 (£9Ol in the previous year, £1400 in 1936-37). Receipts totalled £7601 (£7739). On the payments ' side £2402 was expended on streets, drainage and general work (£2BBI in "the previous £2438 in 1936.37) > £251 on fire prevention after deducting credit (£238), £330 on sewerage scheme, preliminary expenses etc. f(£s7), £627 on administration expenses (£586), and £553 on transfers to other accounts (£53). The various other items of expenditure in the main show small increases over the figures for the preceding year. Payments, including totalled £7572 (£8396). Streets and paths con struction work necessarily was curtailed when it became definitely evident that a transfer from this account to the electricity department -—would require to be made. The account opened with a credit balance of £27 and closed with a credit balance of £56. Last year's increase in revenue in the water supply account was not fully maintained, but not withstanding, the cash credit balance bus increased from £146 to £281,, which, in view of probable heavy pump renewal charges within the next few years must be viewed satisfactorily. HOSPITAL LEVY The hospital and charitable aid rate account continues to have to bear increased charges, the levy for the year amounting to £64'2. In 1931.32 it is £314, which figure has been progressively increased over the intervening years. It is believed that the current year's levy may show a further increase, and in the event of such happening, any ;H----tempt by the council during the cur. : rent year to abstain from increasing , rates, cannot but prove abortive, j "The significance of this must be fit'ii Jy apparent to borough ratepayers. ;>/. A considerable amount of work main highways was concea-

trated upon, the closing months of the year and accordingly it has not been possible to obtain full refunds of subsidy by March 31. The balance in the main highways account is fully covered by subsidy refunds which are due from the Main Highways Board. The opening balance of £127 in the .surface drainage loan account was fully expended during the year in improvements to drainage at th<J Haig.Russell Street intersection. The original surface drainage loan of borrowed in instalments between the years 1920 and 1923, now is fully expended. Reasonably substantial credit balances are maintained in the plant working account and the conversion loans interest account. The share of tlie general account of the total fixed' annual loan charges £6188, amounted to £3671, the total principal' repaid during the year was £2368 reducing the nett borough public debt from £91,971 to this applying £51,168 to the general account ark] £35,436 to the electricity department. Accumulated sinking funds amounted at March 31 to £2750.

I ELECTRICITY ; EXPENDITURE Revenue receipts in the electricity department totalled £9516 against £SP>4B in the previous year. Fromsale of current to consumers, a nett revenue of £8474 was which was £1070 in excess of the revenue l|or the preceding year. Payments in this account totalled £10!,909, the corresponding figure for the previous year being £8642 (1936.37 £6312). Expenditure on the purchase of power in bulk amounted to £1004 representing payment for a supply for eight months onlj r , the council's own generating station being closed down on July 31, 1938. The necessity ior increased capital expenditure, which could be financed Only from revenue, has upset the financial stability of this account. Expenditure under t-his heading was £4525 during the year (1937-38 £2554, 1936.37 £644), and in consequence the revenues of the undertaking have been overstrained; and in order that the financial posi, tion at March 31 might comply with legal requirements, a transfer ctf £500 to this account from the general account was necessary to be made.

Apart from the foregoing items of expenditure, payments generally were much in line with those of the previous year. The trading account, revenue accounts and balance sheer of the department clearly detail operations of the undertaking ovev tlie year and the position respecting assets and liabilities as at March 31 last. MAYOR'S CONGRATULATIONS The Mayor congratulated Mr Saunders on his handling of the finances in rather a trying year. The borough had come out well. The collection, of rates had again been extremely satisfactory and he thanked the ratepayers. The position of having only £287 ordinary rates outstanding was extraordinarily good. Street expenditure was greater than had been anticipated as it had been hoped this would be cut down i a good deal., However, though an inciease in rates had been forecast at one time, the way the estimates were shaping he thought there might be' no increase, or perhaps it might be'only small, though the hospital •levj- had increased appreciably. r The electricity account this year had to bear an abnormal expenditure brought about by considerable activity in and the fact that there were a large number of buildings down streets which had been only lightly wired in the past. In some eases it had been necessary to re.copper a whole street,, and it had also been, necessary to put in an underground cable in th« centre of the town and replace transformers. The year had seen exceptional development in the borough. Including the new hotels the new buildings were valued at between £80,000 and £HO,OOO. The borough works mostly took part ea.riy in the year and they had been curtailed later owing to'expenditure in the elec&ricitj- department. Streets had been sealed and concrete footpaths laid down. In addition, al very little cost to the council Souterg Avenue had been made practically a model street. HIGHWAYS WORK There had been fairly considerable expenditure on main highways, inchiding the HMlcrest Road on which there was more work to be done. The foreman had told him said Mr Barry;, that considerable lengths of main highways into the town would be resealed by the Main Highways Board next , season. It had been hoped that the sewer, age scheme would be gone on with.

However, tenders had been £10,000 over the estimate of £16,500, and the scheme had been postponed. It was a matter that eoukl not be put off in. definitely. The general borough works na.'l been maintained at a high standard and every possible use made of Scheme 13 labour. A large amount of work had been done on borough drains. During the year the borough electricity scheme had been closed down and power purchased from the national scheme. The borough plant was still being maintained as a stand, by, but when the duplication of the line from Arapuni was completed the station would be dismantled. the aerodrome He regretted very much that no progress had been made with the question of an aerodrome. Air services had now been commenced and Whakatane was left out. As council, lors knew, experts selected one site which the council was not happy about, but they had been told that it was that site or none at all. They negotiated with the county counJcil and agreed to apportion the cost. .Mr Saunders had had the machinery' under way to t*ke a poll of th e ratepayers when word was received from the District Public Works Engineer not to go any further as there was some question about the site. So far the borough had heard nothing from the Government, though engineers have been inspecting sites in the neighbourhood. During the year a matter of great importance would be the centennial celebrations and the centennial mem. 'orial. Looking back, said the Mayor 5 lie thought the year had been quite a good one. They had maintained the state of the borough and the finan. cial position was sound. To a larga extent they had to thank Mr Saunders, and the Mayor thanked the clerk personally for the assistance given him in, his first year of office. Cr A. J. Canning endorsed the Mayor's remarks. The borough work had been carried out very creditabJy. He had been * terrified that they would have a 3d rate imposed on them but after inspecting the estimates he was now more confident. They had undoubtedly had to spend a lot of money on, electrical work, but in the near future he thought 11, i ,1 _ r„ „ .1 i..

ihey would have a lauiy good income from it. NEED FOR CAUTION Cr W. Sullivan congratulated the town clerk on the accuracy a,nd promptness of his figures. The Roto, rut Borough Council had been flap, ping their wings because they had a credit of £300. Whakatan e had a credit of £2, 000 so they could almost fly. However, he hoped the ratepayers realised that they would ha,ve to pay a litti e more. In the last two or three years they had been, told to spend all they eould and he thought that now they were realising that it was necessary to save in prosperous periods. He did not wish to be pessimistic however and he agreed that it was necessary to go ahead with the work.as quickly as revenue would permit. The council was entitled t G ask the ratepayers not to lose sight of the fact that all the money spent in, the last 10 to 15 years had come out of venue. He reminded councillors that when the extra cost of the electrical extensions was balanced against the revenue not much profit was shown.

In the coming year it would be necessary to keep a keen eye on expenditure, but he agreed that the position was on the whole very creditable. j