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High council rates Despite all the talk by Mayor Webber about how fiscally prudent his Council is, the average rates increase of 1.98 per cent ensures that Western Bay of Plenty ratepayers will continue to pay the highest rates of all the districts in New Zealand. A rates increase of 1.98 per cent will bring in an extra $1.3 million of revenue. This is small change compared to what Council could save, in my view, by operating more efficiently.

The agenda for the recent Performance and Monitoring Committee meeting provides a number of examples where savings could have been made. Council has long-term debt of $110m which costs about $4.3m a year to service. They have $34.6m in term or call deposits paying an average of about 1.5 per cent from which they will receive approximately $0.5m a year in interest. They could save $3.8m by using this to pay down some long-term debt. Capital expenditure on transportation is $2.54m over budget because of spending on un-budgeted cycling and walking projects. And the “minor office alteration” with a budget of $80,000 that ended up costing $582,926 provides a good example of their fiscal prudence.

KEITH HAY

Katikati-Waihi Beach Residents & Ratepayers Association (Abridged)