A story on page 14 in yesterday's newspaper erroneously reported the Corporation of Hamilton did not earn a surplus in 1997. The Corporation's earnings exceeded spending by $296,000 in 1997 and $196,000 in 1998.

The Corporation of Hamilton made $196,027 in profit last year, recently released figures show.

Roger Sherratt, the Corporation's secretary, said the City's fathers were pleased with the budget being in the black after taking a loss of $100,000 in 1998.

"What we try to do is balance our budget as much as possible and this year it is a very balanced one,'' he said.

In all, the City's administration earned $12,907,196 in revenue in 1998 and spent $12,711,169 in paying staff and running the services.

Property taxes raised $4.6 million, while goods wharfage earned $4.1 million.

Parking fees was also a big earner with $2.2 million but the cost of operating fee paying parking used up $269,000 of the budget.

The Corporation's own properties earned half a million dollars.

By far the biggest chunk of spending came from the city's seven days a week trash pick-up and street cleaning costing $2.4 million.

Picking up the trash up to three times a day gobbles up a large investment in manpower and equipment from the City, Mr. Sherratt explained.

The Corporation also contributes $1.3 million to the Bermuda Fire Service and also pays $500,000 in interest on its $6.5 eight percent bond issue.

Security was a major concern, with $397,000 spent on the new closed circuit television system and $388,000 going toward wharf security.

This was an one-time investment, Mr. Sherratt said, and was the Corporation's contribution to the running of the CCTV system, along with Government and the private sector.

Hamilton's underground sewage system, with its treatment plant at the foot of Court Street awaiting replacement, was upgraded to the tune of $143,000.

The smallest items in the Corporation's budget were the $7,000 in sales from the work yard, while $80,000 and $65,000 were spent on Christmas decorating, and civic functions respectively.

BUSINESS BUC