Sinking Fund Commissioners (City Council)

The Municipal Corporations Act 1876 allowed local bodies to raise loans for special purposes, for “establishing public works deemed necessary for promoting the convenience and health of the inhabitants, … and for promoting public instruction”. In later acts this became “any public works or undertakings”. Repayment of such loans could take place by the creation of a sinking fund, to be administered by commissioners appointed by the local authority. The commissioners, who could be the Public Trustee, constituted a body corporate, and the act set out their powers and responsibilities for raising and distributing loan funds. Various later acts relating to local authority loans continued to authorise the establishment of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, the most recent act being the Local Authorities Loans Act 1956. The Sinking Fund Commissioners as a body may have been formed from Council staff, but it remains a separate agency as it keeps its own minutes and records, has its own establishing act, and functions independently of the Council.