TARANAKI COUNTY FINANCES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 323, 9 June 1911, Page 3

TARANAKI COUNTY FINANCES.

A REVIEW BY CR. McALLUM. | At Wednesday's meeting of the County Council, Cr. McAllum reviewed the comity finances at length. The state of the county's finance, as placed before the Council at last meeting, he said, 71111st be a source of considerable satisfaction to the Council, and bo heartily congratulated the chairman and members on the vastly improved position, as between March 31, 1010, and March 31, 1911. To start with a debit balance of .C".Sfi(i 10s lod was a bad enough hurdle to face, but with roads also far from what they should be, the outlook was very discouraging, and therefore to finish the, year liv paying no less than £2037 13s*3d off the bank overdraft, being a deficit of £1228 17s 7(1, and with improved roads, must be extremely gratifying to the ratepayers generally. But the. reduction of debt was not automatic, but rather the result of special taxation. He therefore proposed to point out some defects in the revenue, «nd a method whereby it could be improved. In striking the rates for the coming year they should knew first what they were going to do; secondly, what their approximate requirements were; and, thirdly, how they were going to meet them. He took it that the members of the Council had considered, without giving the question that deep thought and close attention its importance demanded, the striking of a uniform rate of %d in the £ over the whole rateable value of the county —with the exception of the Hurworth riding—was fair and equable to all the ratepayers; but he contended that this was not so, and when, last November, he asked for a return showing the acreages and valuations of each riding, lie thought he saw a way of placing a finger on the weak spot in the county's finances. Cr. Carter, at the meeting held just twelve months ago, called attention to the old Omata riding's financial position and moved a resolution that the Council employ a co7iipetent engineer who should report to the Council on certain questions. He (the speaker) never heard anything more of that resolution, though it showed an honest etfort on the part of Cr. Carter to find the weak spot in the finances of one riding, but, in his opinion, be did not start at the right place; he should have gone into the question more deeply and have included the whole county, to find out the weakness in the source of supply of revenue. To use an analogue, a river la only a river when supplied by water from its tributaries. The tributaries could only continue to How so long as they W■ '0 fed-by vigorous spring's, and if any of the springs should weaken, both tnmitnries and river would feel the effect. So it was with" the County's finances. If any of the sources of sifpphvor sprin" ; . were sbowing weakness, they nuvst try and locate them, and sop 'whether they could find a remedy. With, this object, in view, with the kind assistance of Mr. W. Hi Skinner, of I he. Lands "and Survey Department, he hail obtained part of •the information lie lrad asked for, and the' remainder lie. yvoujd :pWicure from the Council's records,. .With thfrse figures before, lmn, he v?as ablcuto w,ork out the values per acre m each lyding as follows: ; , ;• .

Waitara and Omata" had lost tbc gilt edged portions of lliMv'rateable'properties by the formation of the Waitara bdrough, and the Fitzfoy and St. Aubyn Town Boards, whilst Hirrworth still reiaihed all its iftost valuable, properties within its boundaries. The next slop was to. find out .the value of.a 3 /, d in the £ rate .over the Avhole county. Taking Okato 1 as itho .lowest raluo per acre as a, basis they found that a;.general %d rate would return the 'Council, in Okatn, 3 l / s (ljpeT acre; Moa, 4?/,d,pei> acre; Waitara, 7VL>il per acre: Oraiata, 15.0 3 /, d per acrej and Ifurworllv, 1™ !)'/ ; d per acre; or, .on the y 2 d rati 1 . -Is: 2 T-3d per acre. Therefore, to be .equally .rated, taking ridings, the reverse way.-'-Huvworth being the highest,,but.not being on all fours with the other .ridings, its' roads -not being main roads according- to, the Act, and running parallel with its rivers,- it had no bridges to look after, Omata at Is Q%d, pe.r acre ns the. standard. Ok.ato Should, pay ,2%d in. the £ rate, Mod •ZVsd, and Waitara lv,d. 'These figures yecre useful in sa far-.as showing where the weakness, in county's finances lies, Tbe.y poiit-twl out that the Moa ana ' Oka to riding.? Were the Weak,springs supplying their financial river or revemie. ' They were below' what should be art average price per acre, as compared with- the other ridings, and that price he conscientiously believed -to be £8 per acre for the Moa riding, and £fi 5s per acre for the Okato riding, but, as they ccmld not tlicm.selve.-i place these average values on these ridings, that work being for the Valuation Department, they should assume -them, and as the Council had power to levy differential rates up to iy 2 d in the ;C for the upkeep of main roads, the rates to be levied in these ridings should be: in Moa 15-lfid in the £. and in Okato Id in the £, thus increasing the revenue by £472 and £3lO respectively. Look at the Moa riding account which they had placed before them at the last meeting, and they would find the revenue from all sources to be £3210 13s, but as it started with a debit balance of €(14!) 2s fld, which it reduced by £2SS lis, and paying £430 13s 7d to the administration account, there was left £241)4 Ss 5d for road work, hut it managed to spend £2SSO 0s 2d, winding up with a deficit of £355 lis fld. By levying a general rate of 15-lfid in the £ they would get £472 extra -revenue, ami thereby make ends meet. They would now take the Okato account and see how it turned out. Its revemie from all sources was £232.3 IDs 8d; it also had a debit bal- | ance of £IO7B 3s Id, and which it reduced by £i)3B 5s -at the expense of Omata—its share of the administration account came to £172 4s Sd. leaving £1213 10s for road work, but it spent £1353 8s Id, exceeding its revenue by £139 18s Id, and, according to Cr. Andrews, had all its road metal still to pay for. By striking a rate of Id in the £ its revenue would be increased by £3lO. If the members of the Council after this explanation could see where 1 the county's financial weakness lay and adopted the method suggested of increasing its revenue, then bn would again impress upon them the fact that neither the Moa nor the Okato ridings would be paying as much in the £ as the other ridings, according to acreage values, as the proportions would work out at 4 11-1 fid per acre for Okato, (!d per acre for Moa. 7Vad per acre for Waitara, Is o%d per acre for Omata, and Is >.)[U\ per acre for Hu-nvorth. Proceeding with tin- riding accounts, the next to come ti-I-v review Is Waitara. Its revenue I'mm all sources was £2422 Is. which included EIH7 IDs 4d reimbursements for Hie Waiwakaiho weir and bridges. |(, started with a debit balance of C 345 17s lid; paid £315 Ifis Sd for weir and bridge at Waiwakaiho; £213 4s to administration account; accepted a liability of £lOl 8s 2d thoughtfully handed over for its pater-

nal consideration and settlement by the Egmont Road Board when it merged in- | to the riding, has £1445 14s 3d left for road work, but spent £lOll, and wound | up with a debit bnlaiiee of £405 iis 9d. an increase of £llO 7s l()d. There was some £4lO expenditure which would not be recurring, and he was given to understand the riding had a substantial asset in broken metal ready for this year's work. If that were true, then careful management should see its overdraft extinguished at the end of March, 1912. Hurworth was the next riding to come under observation, and they found it had a revenue fi'om all sources of £IB9O fis Bd. It started with a deficit of £949 10s 5(1. paid £133 5s 8d to administration account, reduced its overdraft by £748 12s 3d, had *\SlO 7s 7d left for road work, but managed to expend £lOl7 5s Od. finisliiiiT up with a debit balance of £2OO 18s 2d. The question naturally arose, wotlil '/.d in the £ rate be sufficient to me.et its requirements on main roads and by-roads If its revenue, less £1066 4s Bd* transferred from Elliot road account, were anything like last year, viz., £833 2s, and its expenditure on roads £lOl7 5s Od, plus its overdraft of £2OO 18s 2d, then a y 2 d in the £ rate would not be enough, and as this.riding's source of supply to the revenue was strong and vigorous, they woull have to turn «n the tap an extra %d or ] /jd in the £;' otherwise there would be a debit lwlance of £385 at the end of March, 1912. Omata was the last and least of the ridings under the jurisdiction of the Council. Its revenue from all sources was £lOll 103 3d, including £144 12s c-redit balance of its merged roads. It started with a debit balance of £B4B lfis Bd, which it reduced by £7Bl 12s lOd; its share of administration account came to £l2l 3s lOd, and it had £O4l 9s 9d left for its roads, exceeding this amount by £67 3s lOd, an overdraft that almost made him blush when compared with the fine, fat, healthy-looking overdrafts of the other ridingh.

Value. Valuation . per acre Rifling. • Acreage • '•■ .-6 •• '&- S. (1. Ilurworth ... d.300 -2SW.778 •28 13 9 Okato •.:.. .. • 4)5.800 303.005 4 12 4 .. 117,000 7.Vt,830 0 8 9 Waitnra. .. ... 40,006-:mn,fi07 0 10 11 Omata .-... .. 7.S00- 131.382 10 16 11