Bloated bureaucracy

“Latest bills horrify Auckland ratepayers” (Weekend Herald, August 6). Auckland Council has finally hit a financial brick wall. Having reached its debt ceiling, there is no more wriggle room left to debt-fund its extravagant expenditure excesses.

These latest “horrifying” rate increases, of up to 30 per cent, are the inevitable consequence of years of financial ill-discipline.

One major cost culprit is the bloated wage and salary pay scales. The existing pay scales could immediately be normalised. This would lead to immediate savings of over 30 per cent around an estimated $800 million per annum. Rates could be significantly reduced — not excessively raised.

Larry N. Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.