Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1938. AN INCREASE IN RATES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 June 1938, Page 8

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1938. AN INCREASE IN RATES.

AN increase in rates is never welcomed and some residents of Masterton may be inclined to turn a discontented eye upon the increase of about five per cent in total rates announced at the estimates meeting* of the Borough Council on Tuesday evening, If criticism is to serve any purpose apart from that of letting off a certain amount of steam, however, it must take fair account of the leading facts of the position. Even a brief examination of the borough accounts, which were published in summary in our news columns yesterday, will show that the increase in rates for the current year, is reasonable and could not have been avoided otherwise than by rather severe retrenchment and reduction of services. The increase of about five per cent in rates means that the Borough Council will collect this year additional revenue amounting to something under £1,500. What is the money wanted for? In the first place, there is an increase of nearly £5OO in the Fire Board levy. This is made necessary by changes in award conditions and the additional charge must be met if the town is to be afforded reasonable protection against fire loss. The Hospital Board levy this year shows an increase of £227. It will be observed that these two items account for approximately half of the total amount by which rates are to be increased.

In its general administration, as a considerable employer of labour, the Borough Council is under the necessity of budgeting to meet some increases in wages. It also has to purchase a considerable amount of material of one kind and another and these are days of generally rising prices. Over these factors the council has no control.

An increase in the gas rate may be considered open to criticism from a standpoint of principle, but the financial position of the gas undertaking has been strengthened greatly within the last decade by the creation of a reserve for depreciation and renewals now standing at nearly £5,000. If it were not for keen competition between two publicly owned services—those of electric power and gas supply—the, position of the borough gas undertaking no doubt migllt be improved further with benefit to all concerned. It is entirely wrong and wasteful that two undertakings, both owned by the public, should compete against each • other. If each were allotted its appropriate field, taking account solely of factors of efficiency and economy, the public in the end would get cheaper service and the necessity of assisting a borough trading department from the rates would be less likely to arise. Obviously, however, it is not within the power of Masterton and other towns concerned to make this reasonable adjustment.

Taking everything into account, the figures brought forward at the estimates meeting bear witness to capable administration and economical budgeting. While considerable headway is being made in a policy of progressive improvement, a firm check has been imposed on the increase of expenditure, save in the particulars indicated in which it is an outcome largely of national policy, which local bodies must take as they find it.

Since the present Mayor (Mr T. Jordan) took office, every effort has been made to avoid new borrowing. An amount of £B,OOO is being raised for the Waipoua River improvement scheme—an undertaking urgently needed to protect the town against serious dangers of flood damage. This is the only considerable addition made to the indebtedness of the borough for upwards of a dozen years. On ,tlie other hand, provision has been made to pay off in twenty years the total borough debt of £226,000.

It is a noteworthy feature of the borough finance that the cost of tar-sealing four-fifths of its total mileage of streets has been met out of revenue, Masterton has 3(5 miles of streets and 29 miles have been tar-sealed. There is now no doubt that this work can be continued on a revenue basis until the whole of the borough streets have been surfaced.

On the whole, no other conclusion seems possible than that the affairs of the town tire being administered capably and well and that the increase in expenditure which makes it necessary to extract another £1,500 from the pockets of the ratepayers this year is an outcome largely of national, rather than of local policy.