Municipal and Official Handbook of the City of Auckland, New Zealand/Finance

by Andrew Messer

FINANCE.

As the truest indication of the progress or otherwise of any institution or corporate body is recorded by its financial operations, it is of interest therefore to note that the first available balance sheet of the City of Auckland, namely, the area bounded by Stanley Street, Symonds Street, Karangahape Road and Franklin Road, was presented, under the "City Board Act, 1863,” by the City Board of Commissioners for the period 1st June, 1863, to 30th June, 1864, and is given below in detail:—

RECEIPTS.
June 30, 1864—		£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
	From Provincial Government, on account of votes for City main sewer	3,049	3	5
	From ditto, on account of votes for City purposes	1,607	8	3
	Ditto, on account of vote loan of £20,000	5,000	0	0
	Ditto. on account of votes for water supply	700	0	0
	Ditto, contribution towards expense of cutting and forming Albert Street	500	0	0
	Ditto, one-half of expense of erecting urinal, etc., at wharf	13	14	6
	Ditto, expense of lighting wharf lamps	30	4	7
		——————			10,900	7	9
	From rents of ground in Customs House Street	176	10	0
	From City rates	4,803	14	10
	From carters’ licenses	182	10	0
	From lodging house licenses	24	0	0
	From insurance companies, proportion of expense of forming water tanks for fire engines	204	0	0
	From miscellaneous income	50	8	6
		——————			5,441	3	4
					£16,341	11	1
PAYMENTS.
		£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
For	constructing City main sewer	2,773	13	11
{{{1}}}„	Repairing and cleansing streets	6,904	11	6
{{{1}}}„	Lighting streets, repairing lamps, etc.	185	8	8
{{{1}}}„	Repairing and working fire engines, forming water tanks, etc.	412	6	4
{{{1}}}„	Salaries of officers and servants of the Board	859	0	6
{{{1}}}„	Office furniture, printing, stationery, advertising, etc.	373	0	11
{{{1}}}„	Water supply, forming wells, erecting pumps, etc.	718	15	9
{{{1}}}„	Services of assistants to Engineer at City levels	54	17	10
{{{1}}}„	Price of stone breaking machine. Expenses towards erecting and working same	885	5	6
{{{1}}}„	Valuation of City property—sum paid to Messrs. Aitken & Reid	250	0	0
{{{1}}}„	Subscription to repair of Mount Eden Road	30	0	0
{{{1}}}„	Erecting urinal and water closet on the wharf	27	9	0
{{{1}}}„	Law expenses	73	4	0
{{{1}}}„	Miscellaneous expenditure	84	11	4
		——————			13,632	5	3
Balance in hand—main sewer		301	9	6
Balance in hand—general purposes		2,407	16	4
		——————			2,709	5	10
					£16,341	11	1

(Sgd.) D. GRAHAM,

Auckland, 12th July, 1864.Chairman.

The Assets and Liabilities for the period were as follows:—

ASSETS.				LIABILITIES.
	£	s.	d.		£	s.	d.
Money due to Board	6,517	4	10	Amount borrowed from Provincial Government	5,000	0	0
				Sundry creditors	1,237	5	8
					£6,237	5	8
				Contingent liabilities under existing contracts	4,620	19	7
	£6,517	4	10		£10,857	5	3

It will be noticed that in the Receipts there are a number of items such as loan receipts, contributions and reimbursements of expenditures, which, if excluded, reduce the amount of actual revenue receipts to £5,237 3s 4d, mainly accounted for by City rates, £4,803 14s 10d.

Similarly on the Payments side most of the items are for new works, which, in later years, would be shewn in separate accounts under Loan headings.

The next available statement of Accounts is that of the City Council from 21st November, 1871, to 15th November, 1872, in which the distinction before referred to is made.

REVENUE RECEIPTS.				PAYMENTS FROM REVENUE.
	£	s.	d.		£	s.	d.
Ordinary revenue	5,132	7	1	New work	758	16	10
Special rate	1,208	2	3	Repairs and maintenance of streets and sewers	6,215	6	7
Endowment rents	1,378	5	0	Salaries, office expenses and sundries	2,429	5	4
				Interest on debentures	1,805	14	10
	£7,718	14	4		£11,209	3	7
ASSETS.				LIABILITIES.
	£	s.	d.		£	s.	d.
Money, plant and debtors	23,934	9	11	Loan debt	35,000	0	0
Accrued Sinking Fund	8,865	0	0	Mortgage	1,400	0	0
				Creditors	3,445	6	9
	£32,799	9	11		£39,845	6	9

Comparative figures are given, in decennial periods, from that date:

Year.	Revenue Receipts.			Payments from Revenue.
	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
31st March, 1882	23,864	1	7	28,586	17	9
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1892	63,315	8	2	57,608	17	1
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1902	81,649	9	0	91,009	0	8
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1912	214,962	11	7	226,991	13	3
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1921	1,075,840	18	11	1,164,417	14	9

Year.	Assets, including Sinking Fund Accrued.			Liabilities, including Loan Debts.
	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
31st March, 1882	275,946	7	9	252,859	0	0
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1892	573,290	11	0	465,294	16	3
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1902	787,860	0	4	560,756	3	0
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1912	1,895,023	17	10	1,284,667	6	5
{{{1}}}„{{{1}}}„ 1921	5,230,827	8	2	4,113,092	14	7

		Loan Debt.	Accrued Sinking Fund.	Nett
		£	£	£
1864		5,000	—	—
1872		35,000	8,865	26,135
1882		250,000	5,358	244,642
1892		449,900	26,867	423,033
1902		554,900	72,117	482,783
1912		1,178,200	168,299	1,009,901
1921		3,918,924	499,827	3,419,097

MUNICIPAL TRADING.

The following is the position of the Trading Accounts of the City for the year ended 31st March, 1921:—

		Revenue.				Expenditure, including Interest, Depreciation, etc.				Surplus.				Deficiency.
		£	s.	d.		£	s.	d.		£	s.	d.		£	s.	d.
Waterworks		73,534	1	3		53,237	7	7		20,296	13	8
Electricity		111,677	14	8		94,597	8	10		17,080	5	10
Tramways[1]		419,185	18	5		393,524	9	11		25,661	8	6
Fish Market		42,970	2	5		42,955	5	6		14	16	11
Produce Markets		4,463	16	7		6,101	12	1						1,637	15	6
Abattoir		23,538	15	5		19,358	12	0		4,180	3	5
Quarry, stone, etc.		8,410	2	10		7,892	12	11		527	9	11
		683,780	11	7		617,657	8	10		£67,760	18	3		£1,637	15	6

1. The Revenue of the Tramways for the year ending 31st March, 1922, was £509,452.

ANDREW MESSER,

City Treasurer.