Some of the little treasures that the peasants found while they were mucking out the stables.
We have a petition to put a rates cap on council. Please sign the petition, and pass it on. Thanks.
The council is negotiating with the Auditor General over the investigations of the Marine Precinct sale and the Devonport road purchase. The contact person for council is Christine Jones, who is an ex Audit New Zealand person and is very experienced in how they work. The previous council strategy has been to negotiate a restricted investigation by the Auditor General, with council performing their own investigation of the important parts. The Auditor General’s report is public. The council’s report will be private, and not released to the public. There is also the problem that the council is investigating itself. The council will typically choose a friendly investigator who relies on work from the council, and the council will also apply very restrictive terms of reference so that the investigator can not look in any of the wrong places. At the end the council can declare itself squeaky clean, move along nothing to see, and lets not look back. This isn’t about rowing. We are looking forward, to infinity and beyond. Where is Buzz Lightyear when we need him? (RNZ Article)
Overall satisfaction with Tauranga City Council performance has increased slightly this year to 46% compared to 34% last year. The survey is based on polling of 160 residents for each wave. Note this is a very small sample size so we should expect a big error in the results. Council reputation has dropped from 26% last year to 24% this year. Council has engaged a concerted publicity effort around stakeholder engagement (developers are stakeholders), and value for money for ratepayers (developers are ratepayers) which may explain the rise in satisfaction with performance. The proof of the pudding will be the rates increase for 2025/26. Typically, council goes out to consultation with a low ball rates increase, which then dramatically increases on the day that the annual plan is adopted. Sorry gov, it was an honest mistake, the developers made me do it. So we are waiting for July 2025. Expect a massive increase in rates which is needed to make up for the crazy spending. Council have increased the proportion of rates paid by industry to help hide the rates increases. Council could cut spending, but they would have to get permission from the developers to do that. (NZ Herald).
Our hard working deputy Mayor Jen Scoular left New Zealand from Saturday 7 September 2024 to Wednesday 2 October 2024 (26 days), and from Monday 21 October to Monday 28 October 2024 (8 days). Scoular attended one meeting remotely, and missed two meetings. Scoular has also found two side hustles on the Boards of the House of Science, and the Environmental Protection Authority. The deputy Mayor job is only part time after all (LGOIMA response).
Council has provided $150,000 towards a sculpture in Red Square, with an additional $15,000 towards installation. Plenty of council money for some things. Not so much for peasant stuff (LGOIMA response).
Those smart looking bike boxes that have appeared around the city cost council $12,021 each (total cost each $24,533 with 51% NZTA funding), with estimated annual cleaning costs of about $300 (LGOIMA response).
The Masonic Park upgrade cost $9.1million, $7.9million for construction and $1.2million for design and project management etc. The approximate area of the park is 2,000 square meters, roughly 2 quarter acre sections, with a unit cost of $4,500 per square meter. The peasants can build a nice house for less that that ($4,000 per meter will build a nice house). Perhaps this is Mayor Mahe’s value for money in action. It is pebble pavement with some gardens, seating and a pergola thing. My rough estimate would be $400,000 max. It is fantastic value for the developer, not so much for the peasants. We perfectly understand why the Mayor does not want to look backwards, except when he is rowing (LGOIMA response).
The cost for the Te Manawataki o Te Papa documentary produced for council was $184,886. The council is really hitting the value for money button as hard as they can. We peasants should be grateful for such careful stewardship of our money (LGOIMA response).
Our hard working chief executive has a total remuneration package of $611,402.25 per year. Considering the outstanding value for money he is delivering to the developers, I guess he deserves every penny. But what about the poor old peasants (LGOIMA response).
The new palace on 90 Devonport road will have a 15 year lease from the opening day for $5,330,010 plus GST plus operating costs per year, plus $272,480 plus GST per year for the car park. Those costs will increase with inflation. Our council staff work so hard delivering value for money for the developers. I’m sure they deserve a palace to help them do their job so effectively. We peasants should be grateful that we will have to sell up and leave Tauranga to help our needy developers. The developers really don’t know where their next $100million is coming from, and I am sure that they deserve our sympathy (LGOIMA response).
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