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Our world needs to know that friends can disagree and still be friends. We can have strong disagreements and still be friends. It’s because we are friends that we can disagree. This is my message to the Whakatane Community – let’s remember that, at heart, we are all human and count on each other. We need to heal our divisions. . . . → Read More: Navigating Difficult Questions The cost of water services would be going up a lot, Kircher said, but less so under a joint model. Now, keeping the services in-house, his council’s total rates take would have to increase by 25% next year, and a further 30% the year after. The council would be reviewing its long term plan to find savings and lessen this. . . . → Read More: Article: About 40 water entities emerging in Government water regime  Comments are closed  Election 25, From The Press, News Clippings, Three Waters  rates, rates increases, whakatane v wellington Win 4 hours of handyman labour in the Whakatāne / Ōhope area simply by buying a raffle ticket and at the same time support the campaign to get Dave Stewart elected to the Whakatāne District Council To enter either buy a ticket at the Dave Aid Concert on August 2nd or secure your tickets . . . → Read More: Fundraiser Raffle – Win 4 Hours Of Handyman Labour in Whakatāne / Ōhope If the truth is that the reason our council debt has ballooned is caused by their unidentified and unnamed core group of councillors, can WAG now explain how this villainous core group has managed to also balloon the debt on 14 councils above us on the Taxpayer’s Union list, and I guess those below us as well. . . . → Read More: Letter: Whakatāne Action Group’s ‘Core Group’ Conspiracy Theory Exposed? “We all want lower rates increases. I want lower rates increases, I know you want lower rates increases, I hear from my community they want lower rates increases. But it can’t be at the expense of our children picking up the tab because of our negligence today.” The Selwyn mayor tells Newsroom a key problem is councils have few alternatives to raise money. The best tool the Government could give councils, in his opinion, is to return GST spending on new houses locally. “That would be a game-changer for us,” he says, noting between 1000 and 3000 houses have been built each year in Selwyn over the past five or six years. . . . → Read More: Article: Govt winds up council reform storm OPINION: What do we do about 78 councils, rising rates and the need to improve efficiency and focus on the basics? Some argue the Government should simply pass a law to cap rates and let ‘the market’ sort itself out. But history tells us blunt interventions often generate unintended consequences. When councils have focused purely on rate minimisation in the past, they’ve generally cut infrastructure maintenance, inspections and deferred capital investment, contributing to a significant proportion of New Zealand’s $200 billion infrastructure deficit. Government wants to grow the economy and speed up housing development. Yet, ironically, it needs councils to enable housing growth, through investments in roads, water, transport and other essential services. Capping rates without addressing the funding model simply kneecaps councils’ ability to invest. Without money, projects don’t proceed and assets deteriorate. . . . → Read More: Article: The argument against council rate caps Comments are closed Election 25, From The Press, News Clippings, Other council reform, rates, rates increases, whakatane v wellington “Having created a situation where councils are being forced to put up the rates to pay for things like water infrastructure, the government’s now trying to blame them for doing something that they really don’t have a choice but to do. “Ultimately if the government don’t want councils to increase rates, they’ve got to find another way of funding the water infrastructure that we need.” Local Government New Zealand president and Selwyn District mayor Sam Broughton said rates capping could be “disastrous for communities” and leave councils without the means to fund essential infrastructure. . . . → Read More: Article: Capping rates rises would make things ‘worse not better’ – Chris Hipkins Comments are closed Election 25, From The Press, Podcasts, RNZ LGNZ, rates, rates increases, whakatane v wellington Councils are getting around 10% of their budgets from Crown grants when in other countries it’s more like 15-20% or more. Or, as the S&P analyst says, “you’re told to do more infrastructure spending, and you’re getting less support”. This is the opposite of localism and resetting the relationship between central and local government that Christopher Luxon and National campaigned on two years ago. Instead, giving the housing minister the power to override democratically elected council decisions, even if it’s an interim measure ahead of new RMA laws, smacks of subverting the democratic process. And it’s those changes to the Resource Management Act that the coalition Government is itching to get completed because it presents a compelling reason to get rid of the country’s 11 regional councils. . . . → Read More: Article: Coalition finds a handy distraction in council bashing
Source Tangi Utikere, MP for Palmerston North. 25 June at 13:01 via Facebook Today the Government tried to stop me talking about a local example 🚌 of the Government attempting to get councils to pick up the tab for services that have previously been Government funded 👇 but I will not be silenced when raising . . . → Read More: Government Telling Councils How To Spend Ratepayer’s Money Must Stop! “I care for our district and I want to see thriving communities for all peoples – and this means making difficult, thoughtful, future-focused decisions within a constrained council budget. These decisions are never black and white. Good decision-making relies on balancing competing priorities for the benefit of all.” “I have a solid understanding of local government through Community Board work, and through my time on the National Community Boards Executive Committee. We’ve been advocating for community boards to be harnessed and supported to be a more effective tool for better local decision-making.” . . . → Read More: Article: Council or bust for community board stalwart |
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