FIRE AUTHORITY'S BALANCE SHEET

Taupo Times, Volume III, Issue 148, 26 November 1954, Page 5

FIRE AUTHORITY'S BALANCE SHEET

TAGGED BY AUDIT OFFICE The Taupo Urban Fire Authority Account, included in the Borough Council's accounts for the year ended March 31, 1954, which were presented to the Council's meeting on November 17, showed a debit balance of £1156/15/4. Income for the year totalled £504 made up of a grant from the Fire Service Council of £252, and a transfer from the Borough Council's General Account of £252. The financial year commenced with a debit balance brought forward from the previous year of £15/17/6. Operating expenses and maintenance totalled £433/3/4, including £108/11/5 service wages paid to Fire Brigadesmen. Capital expenditure amounted to £1211/14/6 included in which was £804/6/5 for hose and fittings, £140/15/10 for extinguishers, and £115 for bucket pumps, this expenditure bringing the deficit at March 31 up to the figure mentioned, £1156/15/4.

The Fire Authority Account for the current year w$s not included in the Treasurer's report to the Council covering the period up to October 31, 1954, but in the report on the General Account the sum of £1160 appears amongst payments, under the heading Fire Services, this transfer serving to wipe out the deficit in the Fire Authority Account.

The Audit Office ' certificate, appended to the Fire Authority Balance Sheet for the past financial year, in certifying the balance sheet and accounts to be correct, did so subject to the following exceptions: — "(1) The amount owing to the District Fund Account exceeds the limit imposed by Sec. 3 (2) (c) Local Bodies Finance Act 1921-22. (2) The Fire Authority has failed to comply with the provisions of Sec. 9 Local Bodies Finance Act 1921-22 in that it has not provided wholly for its ordinary obligations of the year out of its revenue for the year."

The amount referred to in the Audit certificate as owing to the District Fund Account, which is the Borough Council's General Account, is the deficit of £1156/15/4 in the Fire Authority Account for last year. % The Local Bodies Finance Act, Sec. 3 (2) (c), referred to by the Audit Department, provides that it shall not be lawful for a local authority to owe under the authority of that section, at the end of any year, on its general account or on any separate account, any sum greater than such part of the revenue of the year then ended as remains outstandirjg and unpaid and properly payabie into that account.

Section 9, also referred to, provides that subject to certain provisions every local authority shall provide for its ordinary obligations and engagements out of its revenue for that year. Referring to the expenditure shown in last year's Urban Fire Authority Account, the Mayor, Mr J. E. Story, explained to the "Times" that extra equipment had been purchased following the fire at the Huka Timbermills. Gn that occasion it had been necessary to use the Fire Brigade's full stock of hose, and it was realised that a serious position would arise if a second fire occurred at any time in the town when hose was already in use at a similar fire. The budget each year for the Urban Fire Authority was fixed in collaboration with the Fire Service Council, and the view of members of the latter body was now.

known to be that the Brigade could not expect to be able to cope with every possible fire emergency, but could only do its best with a certain amount of equipment. A Land Rover fire engine, specially designed for conditions such as existed in Taupo, and approved by the Fire Service Council, was now on order for the local Fire Brigade. Advice had been received that its arrival had been delayed by the English shipping strike, but it was hoped to have it* within three or four months. The Fire Service Council was making a loan to the Borough Council to cover the cost, to be repayable over the next ten years. The Fire Council stated that this engine was sufficient for a town the size of Taupo, and a similar one was being provided at Kawerau..