More debt for ratepayers, yippee - Northern Advocate - 23rd November 2011

Back to Basics - Northern Advocate - 22nd November 2011

Money, money, money

I just had to make comment on Thursday’s headline ‘Experts predict $3.5m yearly from Basin art project’.  I’m not against projects like this but have concerns over the funding of it forced on ratepayers.

I like many others, believe council needs to stick more to its core business of providing good basic infrastructure. Our sewerage system is still failing, remember it’s still polluting our harbour; the last year it was off limits for 6 months. 

If the Hundertwasser project was that great an idea and that profitable, I’m sure investors of this type of project would have been clambering over each other, for a bit of the action. 

With our local debt exceeding the budgeted debt promised by many of the elected, now peaking at about $165million and rampaging out of control even more, with more pie in the sky projects being rumored.  On my reckoning if it’s that great, why not build 50 Hundertwassers and the profit expected could pay back the debt in a year.  Yeah right; forget the jokes; let’s get serious. 

If the project fails to gain the returns that we are told of while selling us the project, how about the CEO Mark Simpson and his band of jolly supporters of the project, top up the ratepayer’s coffers out of their own personal pockets, for the deficit. 

The ratepayers have had a gutful of being councils walking EFTPOS machines.   It’s time to tighten up your belts; things could be going to be a bit tougher for many, in the ensuing years.

 

Warren Slater

Maunu