THE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 4, 29 July 1946, Page 5

THE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Jr FUNCTIONS OUTLINED ADDRESS BY MAYOR r An interesting 1 address on the functions and activities of the f(:\ Whakatane Borough Council was given by His Worship the Mayor, Mr B. S. Barry, at the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce which took place last Wednesday evening. Commencing from the constitution of Whakatane as a Town Board in 1914, the speaker outlined briefly the growth of the town, and the capital works undertaken by the Borough Council since 1 its inception in 1917, paying particular attention to the various rates, and the increase in rating over the various years. Opening his address, Mr Barry stated that since 1917 seven Mayors had held office in Whakatane, and sivty-one citizens had served on the Council. The longest record of service was held by Mr W. Sullivan M.P. who was elected Mayor in 1925, a position which he held till 1938, and had served on the Council continuously since that date. The Deputy-Mayor, Mr S. S. Shapley, and Mr A. J. Canning also had lengthy years of service to their credit. Present Constitution The Council, as it was at present •constituted, consisted of’nine Councillors plus the Mayor. They were fortunate in the » fact that they had no factions to contend with, each man voting as an individual according to his own opinion. From the financial point of view, Mr Barry continued, Whakatane was a difficult Borough to run. This was due to the out-dated Government valuation. Forty-two per cent, of the rates were collected from inside the Rock, whilst the bulk of the residential area was very lightly valued. This state of affairs came -about when the freezing works closed down, and sections were sold in some cases for £5 each. Aparently the Government Valuer had never gone past this, with the result that owners of certain sections now worth £ISOO were paying only £2 or -£3 annually in rates. j The General Rate The general fate, the speaker continued, had remained at a very consistent level, particularly over the war years when costs had risen sharply. It had, in fact risen only id in the pound since 1939-40. The Harbour B.oard rate had remained at |d in the pound. On the other hand, the hospital rate had soared from l|d in 1939 to s|d in 1946. Dealing with the hospital rate, Mr Barry stated that it was a serious thing, and was holding back “ districts with large hospitals to maintain. In 1935-36, the total Hos- _ pital levy amounted to £3lB. Now it stood at £2767. The general rate was levied on unimproved value, whilst the Hospital rate was assessed on capital value. Every building that went up in the Borough increased the valuation. This was entirely reversed in the County where■certain parts were not valued at all. If the valuation were placed on an equal footing throughout,. the load would be much more equally distributed.

'‘lf the Hospital rate were struck,” said the speaker, “on. the average of the 1935-36, 38-39 basis, we could install our new water scheme on a 30-year loan with no extra cost to the ratepayers other than what they are paying today.” Maintaining the Borough The total rate, stated Mr Barry amounted to £12,000. The total general rate was in the vicinity of £3,000. Therefore, the Council was left with just over £3OOO, plus a small amount of revenue from other sources, with -which to maintain the Borough. The maintenance work, however, was not neglected, and in addition, a certain amount of permanent work was entered upon each year. Borough Indebtedness

The last loan raised in the Borough for which a rate had been struck, said Mr Barry was in 1924. There had been two loans raised since then, but no additional rate had been leved. The original loans in the Borough amounted to £88,750, and the other to £31,500. These had been later formed into conversion loans of respectively £72,970 and £25,520. Against a total of £98,000 the present loan stood at £69,000. This would be paid off in 1959-60. Today, the Borough was faced with, another unavoidable loan for the installation of a new water system. If it proved impossible to get rid of the hospital levy, then the people would have to face up to rather a steep increase in their rates. The finances of the Borough were in •a sound position, with a reserve of tsome £2OOO in hand. (Continued in next column)

Electric Power In the electricity department, consumption had almost doubled since the 1937-38 period. At that time the number of units used amounted to 1,424,182. Now the figure stood at 2,710,624. Considerable work was still being done in the Department, and the Council was faced with the expenditure of more capital moneys. Estimating Expenditure The speaker briefly outlined the manner in which the estimates of expenditure were compiled at the commencement of the year, but added that unforseen circumstances often upset the calculations. He instanced the last big flood two years ago which had cost the Borough some £I2OO. They had received a grant from the Government of £239. In a fast developing Borough such as Whakatane, the speaker concluded, additional expediture not allowed for in the estimates was often found later to be necessary. Although the Whakatane Borough Council was faced with financial problems the whole time, it was performing its task to the best of its ability, and on the whole successfully.