The Rates Game

Glorious ratepayers have received the windowed envelope in the last few weeks.

The one that is such a joy to open. The one that makes one jump with excitement and smile uncontrollably.

Nervous fingers  rip the firmly stuck flap and expose the coloured sheet of details to behold.

Where does one start? 

It's a trick actually. They (you know, them that think up these puzzles) , they make sure there is a range of print size, a list ,explanations , highlighted passages  and a box here and there.

It always seems easy to find the penalty .If you don't pay on time you get slogged with another 10%.

Many befuddled ratepayers don't know that the legislation says a council can charge 'up to 10% penalty' but I have never seen one that chose a lesser figure. Even when interest rates dropped to levels where us slaves were able to breathe and put something extra in the shopping trundler , the bureaucrats would never draw the option to the attention of the compliant decision makers. It stayed at 10%.

However back to the sheet of delight.

Over the years government have allowed councils to have add ons. In other words more ways of extracting  cents from ill informed drones who never read the finer details and write the cheque with a 'whatever' .

The worst option given to Local Authorities was the ability to impose a Uniform Annual Charge.

What an opportunity to slip in a raft of options to raise more funds to spend unwisely.

Back to the rates. 

The recent storm , or Gabrielle, stirred up more than the mud and water. More than the problem of silt and where to put it.

The Council wallahs must have been doing overtime thinking how can we give the affected ratepayers all the help available but sneakily recuperate any expenditure when they are not looking.

The help of course was tremendous from some Councils that understood the gravity of the situation and remitted  rates for two years. It was of huge assistance but now the plan has been revealed.

Ha, ha. We have unlimited power . What we gave we will retrieve. 

The ratepayers that have clawed their way back to some sort of normality have now been slipped a charge for Gabrielle. Have they  charged everyone , every ratepayer with this levy? I hope so.

Spread the load. Especially when some of those affected were sacrificed to take the brunt of the event because of the historical planning for the Flood Control scheme.. In that case then they should not have to have the added burden of a levy at this time.  

The other aspect to this rates imposition is the question of valuations. The valuations used for the latest rates are the same as pre Gabrielle. My bank showed me a valuation recently that had reduced since the event.

It looks as though there is a desire to retain the value so they can extract as much rates as possible from the damaged area rather than go through an exercise that would adjust for the tragedy. 

The Councils therefore, have smiled and waved at us and then when we were heads down resurrecting  our mansions and swimming pools they pulled the rug.

I actually questioned the local MP about the valuations but no response .No understanding . No worry.

  

     

 

 

Confirmation of Thoughts

Sometimes it takes a long time to get to the bottom of issues.

At last I have found someone with the knowledge and years of experience to confirm what I have been thinking in relation to the disastrous results following Gabrielle.

It's such a complicated matter  and their are many threads to join together to enable some understanding of the engineering and the impact on infrastructure involved in trying to hold back nature and its power when it challenges our , what may seem to be pathetic , resistance measures.

What is apparent is the implications of the truth,  muddy the waters (see what I did there) and political considerations , responsibility  and arse covering come to the fore.

With the clarification of many details I now feel for the first time that there may well be a case for compensation for those affected by the flood. 

One wonders if the hurried settlement of red stickered properties had something to do with stemming any claims that may have emerged from the worst affected.

Trouble is ,with some time to reflect and analyze  we can expose the extent of what happened and if there is any culpability apparent.

My thoughts about loss of institutional knowledge and experienced personal from authorities has been confirmed .The value of long term involvement just cannot be denied. Even extending back to conversations by staff with residents who have witnessed historic events and can explain details about what occurred.

We have a situation where all this knowledge , along with engineering ,practical tasks and political decision making will never be able to gel in to a collective , positive , future tackling event because too many players are involved .

It will take years for our community to build again. May be it will be prevented from re establishing because of politics and bureacracy.

 

  

   

 

 People vs Fantasy

Or reality vs  modelling.

A situation is building behind the scenes but for now I note the friction and distance between the authority and the people.

People who have lived experience ie lived in an area for a long time and lived in so far as, been through a life time of  ups and downs , a life time of battling all types of weather conditions , are more knowledgeable than late comers and shiny arses that sit in air conditioned offices and postulate about what may happen in the future.

It's my broken record but it keeps reappearing as we build our way back to normality. 

Modelling will never reproduce the wisdom and wealth of a lifetimes experience.

I have discussed a situation with a flood recovering friend who stands to lose his property because of the madness infecting the department of  over reaction and 'do something at all costs' group that are immune to reason.

The rationale is that something must be seen to be done. Vast amounts of ratepayer money needs to be spent so that a report can be written and heads nod to a job well done.

It does not matter if the work carried out is a waste of time, a complete waste of resources and a totally irrational response to a disaster as long as there is a visual imprint on the records.

Something must be done.

There are now a host of properties that are going to be disrupted , dismembered, purchased, reconstructed and scarred for a lifetime because something must be seen to be done.

I hope this is a phase we are passing through but I have my doubts.

Logic and reason are failing in so many aspects of life and they may have gone out the window.

We may be left with modelling, AI and a surfeit of bullying and arrogance.  

       

 Texas , Nelson, Weather

Trying to absorb the news about flooding in Nelson Marlborough has been hard enough. So many similarities to Gabrielle and the stories reflect those of many friends locally.

What a gutsy lot are kiwis. Listening to farmers interviewed after being slammed by the event , here they are knuckling down and confronting the challenge after a few days reflection and time to let reality sink in.

Great to hear one farmer say they needed heaps of help but there was no point waiting for the Government.

He's right. You have to get on and start the battle. Shift the silt. Fix the fences .Look after the stock.

Life's a bitch at times.

It concerns me that again the sticker process kicks in smart quick.

Red , yellow, white. It is wrong. More analysis on this later.  

And Texas.

We thought we had it bad. Texas is another story. Walls of water 30ft and 40 ft high at the height of the flooding. Can you comprehend that?

My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones in a flash. Lives turned upside down .Families devastated .

Mother nature is all powerful.

It is pointless trying to compare the Texas situation with New Zealand. The geographic situations are different along with so many other factors.

The common factor is weather.

It is an opportunity for the non thinkers to point the finger at that nasty 'global warming'

Agendas galore.

What is needed is  more thought about what is really happening .Why is the weather behaving the way it is?

Recently I was thinking of  a period we went through in the nineties where we experienced a number of serious hail storms .

Humans lose their minds at times.

It is always tragic having to deal with major losses .I was involved in committees at the time. One of my friends was totally wiped out .Never recovered. 

The response to these weather events was to invest in hail cannons, hail netting and other innovative measures to prevent damage in the future. Every time a black cloud appeared there were cannons waking us up with their explosions and whines.   

What has happened?

We have experienced some hail in the years since but nothing like the smashing events back then .I don't know if hail cannons exist any longer. There is certainly plenty of hail netting about on the off chance.

The weather is constantly changing. Every year is different .There are patterns but nothing stays the same.

We live with nature.

Some understand , some don't. 

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 Two Worlds

Frankly at times I think we are living in two worlds in the sense that the political system has become so far removed from reality that it revolves around a different universe.

The political world have received a new report from a "panel of experts" including bankers, insurance sector , local government and iwi.

These experts prepared this report because the Government is preparing Climate Adaptation legislation. 

Sound impressive?

No. If anyone believes legislation will overcome nature then they are dreaming.

Of course it all revolves around money. That's why all the 'experts' from sectors have been involved.

The banks are worried about losing out. The Insurance sector are worried about their bottom lines , Local Government  are worried about making wrong decisions and being sued and iwi always have to poke their nose in.

To hell with people. I mean they just get in the way. They do things like build houses and live in areas where they enjoy life while being debt slaves.

Or they have been successful and are enjoying nature by the sea or a river .

Sometimes those pesky people have lived in areas for a long time. Maybe even generations. Maybe they are familiar with the lay of the land. The ways of  mother nature .The historical imprint on their ancestry.

Of course they are concerned with money as well .

What is the agenda?

The problem is this proposed legislation is being driven by the climate change hysteria that has been unleashed on the world and captures politicians soon after they sit in their comfortable parliamentary seats. The irrational world subsumes them and they become captured and lead down the path to a new land where experts roam free and salaries rise exponentially with mounting reports.

So we have these two worlds.

One of reality and reason.

One of fantasy and fanaticism.

This new report gets off on the wrong foot for a start with the specious reasoning that the frequency and severity of weather events is  increasing.

There is ample evidence already available to dispute this reasoning and to initiate a report with this premise as its focus is a major flaw from the outset.

It is true that we have seen some major weather events happen but these need to be put in to perspective.

In the next ten years we may see fewer. We need to sit back and take a long look at what is really happening.

The big issue with all the climate alarm ringing in our ears is that the pursuit of legislation and the imposition of regulations is impacting monetarily on you and me .The people. We are paying bigly  for what may be  totally unnecessary expense for no return and huge upheaval  to our lives.     

 

 Nelson and Marlborough 

Thoughts are with fellow kiwis in the Nelson Marlborough area after another weather event.

The area has been subject to flooding every four years in recent times.

This will get the climate alarmists excited because the go to explanation is climate change and they can say , look it's happening more often and go to their climate models to update and factor in four years as a given.

What will likely happen is the return period may expand to twenty years. Could be anything because that's what the weather does. Changes constantly. Weather patterns are down to nature.

Anyhow enough of that.

I really feel for those affected by the wet weather  and especially those growers who have lost machinery, buildings , fences soil etc.

It's a long grind getting back to some sort of normality.

Luckily the rain hit in the winter when crops are off the trees and everything is dormant. The soil will be saturated however as it has been wet for a while.  

More rain is forecast for Thursday and Friday so lets hope it is not going to exacerbate the situation  and cause more damage.

I have noted the normal noises from the Minister and the Mayors but I bet all the help will come from friends, family and local churches. Genuine kiwis.

Thinking of all those affected.

Ciao for now.

Lotto and Funding

Here I was talking about money and next thing there is coverage of the funds Lotto distributed following a special lotto draw following Gabrielle.

Early on there was disquiet about what was going on with the lotto funds but it is not an easy task deciding who would receive funds and how much.

I have to say I was extremely grateful to receive a small amount of assistance from Lotto distributed through a local organisation. I made it go a long way .

The distribution was in the vicinity of $14 million and when spread out over the affected areas was a big help to many small organisations that were then able to identify how best to utilise.

It would be good to discover why some particular parties were reputed to be given sums in the vicinity of $10m for very small communities .These were Government grants mentioned in discussions with many who assisted during the cleanup and restoration.

There are indications this was true as evidence is plain to see when travelling around .

This raise the question about help and assistance once again. 

In Australia the recent floods have seen affected people and businesses given grants around $20,000 and in the USA following North Carolina flooding the people were given $50,000 to help overcome the disaster.

In New Zealand nothing .

There is a multitude of situations that become apparent following a disaster . Everyone is different .Some insured , some not. Some with no debt. Some with debt to the eyeballs. Just a reflection of a community at a moment in time.

What is the answer?

My thinking now is that a grant of some kind , not just $1000 is required to soften the impact and help people get back on their feet.

The idea that we have a Council that is sitting on a $500 million investment at this time. One might say waiting for a rainy day,  and they are so miserable they look at ways of extracting more money from ratepayers , then I say something is very wrong.

We need to look at the legislation around possibly making a distribution from squirrelled funds that belong to the ratepayers.