The twenty four Raglanders who attended the Waikato District Council’s Annual Plan meeting in the Town Hall Supper Room on Thursday evening were welcomed by a team of fourteen: the Mayor, Councillor Baddeley, CEO Ion, three Raglan Community Board Members, Planning Manager Edgar and seven other Council junior executives. The audience was run though an unclear PowerPoint presentation which CEO Ion apologised for. Although the staff line-up was extensive it lacked the expertise of the old recently restructured General Managers and the audience was frustrated by the number of unanswered and partly answered questions. Many questions were answered with, “We’ll have to look into that.”
CEO Ion confirmed that Raglan rates will be going up from about 5 to 7% plus other increases. Some information supplied by CEO Ion was incorrect. For example, he said that the Trade Waste fees only applied to industrial businesses, when it actually applies to all commercial activities including food shops and community centres. The staff could not answer a query on the smallest type of business affected. In fact there is no smallest size – if it is a ‘commercial activity’ then the fee applies along with the additional compliance costs.
Mayor Sanson appeared unfamiliar with the Annual Plan as he told the meeting that borrowings would be reducing as Pokeno sections were selling so quickly that the additional receipt of development contributions would allow loans to be repaid early. Actually Waikato District Council debt is shown in the plan as increasing at the rate of half a million dollars every week.
Other questions asked ranged from queries about light pollution, population growth, footpaths, roads in raglan, consultation on the Sunday bus, issues with the sewage treatment plant and why there isn’t a targeted rate for milk tankers.
Community Board Chair Gallagher pointed out that Community Board priority list displayed in the Power Point presentation was not the current priority list and added that a footpath on Simon Rd to fill the gap was a priority.
Many questions related to the private proposal to develop the Rangitahi Peninsula.Council officials adopted a position of, ‘No application has been lodged so we can’t comment.’ Mayor Sanson was unaware that public open days had already been held by the developer. Councillor Baddeley offered to accept enquiries.
The audience appeared frustrated by the lack of answers on many questions and after the meeting many groups discussed what needed to be done next.
It was interesting that one of the 24 had come from Franklin, where they’re even more affected by rate increases than here. They’re clearly trying to plan for the spring local elections. Is anyone else interested in working with them?
I was surprised none of the 14 could answer my basic question about whether the 16% rise in payments to staff and suppliers on page 71 of their Plan really is as big as it seems to be.