CITY BALANCESHEET

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2384, 13 February 1915, Page 9

CITY BALANCESHEET

( smms surplus EXCEEDED. BY £33, • SERVICES PAYING (TRAMWAYS-CLEAR. OVER' £t5,000„ Ite-generalTialaiice-sßeetof the- WelCity • Corporation for the year which' ended on March 31 last, bas just 'been made available to tho public. {Through various unavoidable causes, the appearance of the financial statement lad been delayed,-and it was somewhat ~.. One of the'chief features of the state1. jnent 'is the fact that the receipts for •the year were in excess of the expenditure to the extent of. £33,739. Altogether, £461,653 was received by the . corporation authorities, and the expenditure totalled £427,914. - The total value of the City assets (not including the Town Belt and the Reserves), is set■down at £3,246,256- • ■ The year was commenced with a debit balance on general account of £10,049, and it closed with a debit balance of £8820, which means that: tie position icf this important account improved to ithe extent 'of £1229. However, the " 'position of the general account on the 'year's working is really - considerably 'better than it seems, because over £19,-■-000 worth of special expenditure was made out of the general fund. The deitails of this special expenditure arc;— £ s. d. ■Street widening- ■ 580 10 10 ; Lyall Bay 1,975 .1.2 'Oulbirnie Rec. 3,103 13:-10 ' j Central Park ......... 1,064 14 7 drainage (outlying die- . „ tricts) 12,700 12 H Had this £19,000 not been expended jut of -the general account, that acacount would have baaa -actually about : ;JSII,OOO in credit! - What are called the "ordinary receipts'' for the year 'amounted to £233,5357.. The expenditure- amounted to '£231,644, leaving a credit balance of £1,713. ;

position ot various Accounts. : There was transferred from the general account to the waterworks account £848 for extra water' services: beyond ,the rate available j and tfte council transferred from the library account to the general account £463 as repayment for advances made from the general aocoum some years agp towards library (extensions. Tiio Amount. paid , from general accounts for different loans amounted &>. £12,00^'. -

uu. £,xz,uua. ■. - . . rte; Hospital and Charitable. Aid ac commenced the year with a debil )f £2579, and concluded it with a.debii £2348, thus improving its positioi by well over £300 ...', In the • temporary loan aooonmt th< deposits improved by £3954 during tn< the Wadestowa and Northland water supply loan, there was , a credit of £6020 at the commencement of the year. The council expended £818, leaving a balance of £5201. ■ With regard to the Melrose. district loan of £100,000; the sum of £12,58£ was paid .out, of the, district -fund account to -meet the carrying otit of the drainage in tie Melrose district. The land for street widening account ((was inVdebit £18,551 at'the, legimmg p the financial year, and it firndiM the ittmraal period with, a' debit of £19,131. fehe increase in the debit represents the \cost of the purchase of a strip of land ■in Willis Street from Messrs. Barber ■ and Co. . ; • • ' ' The. Wadestown tramway shows an amespended baknce...-of .£1338, ; whioh amount is being deposited with the iCnion Bank for two years. , ' Respecting the city waterworks loan, n£loo,ooo, the credit at the commencement of the year was £876. There was I called up during the, y ear the remaining I debentures (representing £5000), and Uhe balance at the end of the yean was kuo6.,- • The abattoir .account- shows a surpros. 'ffihe balance at March 31, 1913, was [•■£7l4, and the balance from • profit and loss account £756. This has .been eij: mended in "waiting off preliminary ex,;penses," £232 17s. 6d., leaving a balance pbf £737 10s. Bd.' This surplus is being fused in carrying out extensions- to the '/works this year. *

jramway' and ; Eleotrto Light Ventures. ( The financial position of the corporar ■'tion's tramway undertaking is shown in (detail..'.'. ' : . ' „ ' The tramways revenue-for the year totalled £160,348, and the expenditure ■£144,917. Therefore the venture shows a credit balance of £15,430 for the .twelve months' working. There was leaded a capital expenditure to the tramway, aooount of £23,038, made up in depreciation, £11,640, and net revenue sum [plus £11,378. 1 . , , , I The credit balance 1 of £15,430 was abfeßorbed. in the. following works: — i . '• • ■ " , ■' '• £ s. d. (lAlterations to>oars- ..—— 5,601 9 3 'Alterations to boxcars 195 ' 4 8 ■Relaying feeders ..........1,760 16 4 "Band instruments 256 0 0 Citizens' Carnival. :74 15 ' 1 Sinking fund Shorse tram-" ■ways loan 500 0 0 /(Writing off tramway prelim- . inary expenses 1,330 6 2 'Power supply, power station 18 8 0 Public lighting preliminary • expenses 13 5 1 Writing-off lease Jeirvois Quay . 1,591 0 0 (Writing-off' lease Wakefield Street 550 0 0 {Written off coal 620 14 7 The total revenue from the electric light supply service .was £61,967, and itho total expenditure £46,159. The :credit balance, therefore, is £15,809. This,credit was absorbed, as follows. — £ [Alterations to buildings 1,775 '[Written-off private lighting (preliminary expenses) B'i iSVritten-off public lighting (preliminary expenses) 32 ■Written-off old station plant.... 5,000 ; ;Writteri-off goodwill —5,000 Written-off coal 4341 ■Carried forward 3,434 Loans and Auditor's Tags. The position regarding loans may be -summarised as follows:— £ s. d. Sftrfal City loans 2,294,050 0 0 .Total.sinking funds ... 294,450 14 7 Net loans debt 1,999,599 5 5 Far the accident fund there is an ac•cmnulation of £12,596 cash. The depreciation fund shows a credit at the bank of £15,900—Tramways, £15,000; abattoirs, £900. To the credit of the Mayor (Mr. J. P. iLuke) ana the others responsible for the of the City's finances the balance-sheet has teceived the signature of the Controller and Audi-tor-General (Colonel R- J- Collins) with the addition of very few tags. However, there are some tags, for the Audi-tor-General signs the balance-sheet as "examined and found correct except that the following transactions are without, the authority of law:— "(a)' Trading by the council in the snpplyihgof fish. "(b) The appropriation of City moneys for th« creation of an accident • compensation fund. • "fc) The .incurring of overdrafts -oa.

loan accounts and the • payment of interest thereon. . •"

Regarding (a), Mr. Luke points out that this class of trading has been a settled policy of the corporation, for years; the providing of' the public with a supply of cheap fish. is only giving effect to part of, the policy. . . As to (b), the'corporation has its-own accident fund covering both corporation, employees and general public on corporation services. , legislation does not actually permit this," said Mr. Lokflj "legislation which will do so should be provided as-early. as "The position -about (c)/ 1 said the Mayor "is that.there was a £100,000 loan raised for the duplication of the water main at -Wainui. Some moneys were'paid for the pipes before the debentures were available to liquidate the sum. The payment on account of a big shipment was- made pending tho issue o£ debentures."