Hitting Telegraph Road
It all came down to the pipes in the ground.
It’s what destroyed Waihi Beach. And it’s what will destroy Hamilton. Not the pipes as such. But the money needed to pay for them.
Rates paid for those sewerage pipes at the coast. And for some, that increased development cost drove them out of town.
Long-time residents of Waihi Beach couldn’t afford the hefty rates rise to pay for the concrete pipes and the ditches dug to accommodate them.
Reticulation they called it. It was about a sewerage system the developers and the Western Bay council wanted. It meant subdivisions could be built. It meant more people were coming. It meant new money for council.
Waihi Beach, the small hick coastal town, the poorer cousin of Whangamata¯ and Mt Maunganui, was at last going to move away from septic tanks and become modern.
The coastal diamond in the rough, the ‘‘last resort’’, was about to be polished to attract new investment – new money and more rates.
What happened next was an exodus of elderly people who had lived at the beach for most of their lives.
They left as the rates climbed through the roof. Those on fixed incomes were screwed. It was go into debt or leave. There was no choice.
The rates rise became a ‘‘social modifier’’. It changed beach culture as the long-time locals moved out to somewhere, anywhere, where they could afford to live.
Locals who remained noticed the cars had changed. The long-time locals’ old beat-up English cars had been replaced by new sparkly Japanese rides. Aucklanders had come in their droves to snap up the abandoned properties left behind following the mass elderly exit to cheaper locales. People became the collateral damage of rates rises.
As the council letters went out to ratepayers around Hamilton last week, you could feel the collective sucking in of the Waikato air as homeowners started to do the math.
They were trying to work out how they were going to pay the increased rates the letters demanded. It felt like the ghost of Waihi Beach past had comea-calling.
For some Hamiltonians the rates hike will introduce the same question – stay or go?
Some Hamilton ratepayers suggested a protest – a revolt. Don’t pay they said. It’s a good idea. Ratepayers are described as ‘‘customers’’ on the city council website and customers have a choice to buy or not to buy.
But we’re not customers – there is no choice.
Hamilton rates will drive people out of their homes and, just like Waihi Beach, development will be a greater priority for council than care and concern for its residents.
Shocked Hamilton ratepayers will turn to the local body election next year as payback time. The councillors responsible for the rate increase debacle attributed to the previous Hardaker administration are still in chambers.
They signed off without dissent on the city’s budgets and rates and in so doing, laid the foundation for the rating mess the city is now in.
These councillors now present themselves as the solution for the mess they created. Payback is coming.
If councillors are confused (and they are), ratepayers who trust their elected ward representatives are feeling more than confused – they are feeling misled.
Current councillors Leo Tooman, Angela O’Leary, Dave Macpherson, Rob Pascoe, Garry Mallett, Martin Gallagher and Mayor Andrew King were all elected members of the Hardaker administration. Chief executive Richard Briggs has been in the role since 2014 – ample time to identify trends and get the city’s business in order. He didn’t. It all led to the Tuesday night ambush a year ago.
At the time I called for the appointment of a city administrator as the Tuesday night debacle in chambers demonstrated the city could not manage its own affairs.
What has followed since with confusion over finances and city priorities from name changes to a revamped Garden Place, to closed-door meetings with developers and rates increases of 19 per cent is ample evidence to support the call it is time this council was disestablished.
Collectively the Hardaker councillors have much to answer for as an exodus from Hamilton becomes a reality for some ratepayers.
I have one suggestion for those ratepayers who may choose to leave.
As you drive away, look at the Tron in your rear view mirror, see if you can spot the glint in the eye of those responsible for your departure.
They work on the ninth floor of a building in a dying CBD and they will be leaning on their $25,000 balustrade licking their collective lips at the opportunity for growth your leaving provides.
‘‘Yes, and they say we’re gonna have to pay what’s owed
We’re gonna have to reap from some seed that’s been sowed
And my radio says tonight it’s gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories There’s six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow
From all of these signs saying sorry but we’re closed . . .
All the way . . . down the Telegraph Road …’’
Dire Straits – Telegraph Road