Politicians

I know.

The mere mention of the word causes faces to contort.

What now?

The National team ,  that thought they understood Local Government , demanded that Councils look at options for amalgamation as that was going to solve all the rates rises. You know. Bigger is better. Savings from economies of scale. Less CEO's (that were once Town Clerks).  Less staff. Blah, blah, blah.

Councils throughout the country threw themselves in to  consultant led conniptions, staff led saving our arse excercises and councillor led what's in it for me mindsets.

Forget about millions spent previously on amalgamation questions and the glaring example of what not to do provided by the monster Auckland Council that breeds staff  and reports like Central Otago rabbits .No it's only ratepayer money that is being spent err, being thrown down the braided rivers of various catchments in to a sea of  crabs that grab it with their little nippers before the next notes appear.

May be that's what an economy is about . Just throw the money around and hope everyone snares enough to get a feed with.

So all this money was spent and then at the last minute the Government said they will put these ideas on hold .

What happened?

Did the Government get a message that local government is not that easy to change and there were problems in trying to force change on extremely diverse arrangements that fit in to our long ,complicated , geographically changing regions .

It's hard to fathom but going by the vacuous  utterances exuding from the Local Government Minister one does not have a lot of hope that the decision was amde for wise reasons.

Wise is something missing in the beehive.

Ho hum.

Ratepayers have been skinned again. Fleeced of money that will never be explained in the lengthening list of explanations on a rates bill.

Their should be a line for confetti. 

 

     

 Rates Bill

Not hard to get upset about a rates bill these days.

As I tentatively opened the colourful envelope ( I knew it wasn't a love letter)  I had a thousand thoughts running through my mind.

Would the new valuations mean a drop in rates?  Has the Council made some cuts to expenditure and reduced the reach in to ratepayers pockets?  (haha) Has the Council  reduced the number of lines explaining every added excuse for a little more rates?

No way.

It was the same old spread. 

It was as though nothing had happened .

After paying rates for forty years it continues.

There is a line or two that says HPFPS .

Heretaunga Plains Flood Control Scheme.

What happened .We had a flood. Were we protected .No. 

The Heretaunga Plains Flood Control Scheme failed. It was/is  a very good scheme and was designed to protect us from flooding with stopbanks built for a 1 in 100 year event.

So for years and years ratepayers have paid to build and maintain this scheme. It failed.

Why did it fail.

A host of reasons exacerbated by a major rain event .Many of the reasons however were because the Council failed to carry out maintenance , failed to hold up their end of the bargain that the ratepayers coughed up for.

Why did we pay rates for decades for protection and still get flooded ? 

So here we are again paying the rates for protection that is now questionable.

$50 million currently being spent on stopbanks in our area is a waste of money. The rivers that are filled up with tree growth and silt have not been touched.

If I refuse to pay my rates the state wins.

I'm back to accountability and why are we ineffective in attempts to correct this mess. 

    

 

Accountability

Word of the week.

Accountability. It's been popping up in conversation around many issues and Government and Local Government are being exposed  for the lack of accountability that occurs after major events or decisions that affect thousands of New Zealanders.

It is not a new problem but may be issues like the Mount and alleged lies by public servants have brought the problem to prominence in the media and a bit of sunlight has exposed how bad things are.

Historically accountability of civil servants has been a 'too hard' to deal with issue .We can't sue and the public service carries on as though nothing has happened.

Following Gabrielle fingers were pointed , behind the scenes shifts occurred , jobs reallocated , lots of muttering and excuses but no accountability. Nothing. Nada.

It was hard to get a hold on who was in charge and who made decisions. No one wanted to front up and if you asked questions there was silence.

Last week I happened to be having a wide ranging conversation with a local friend and the comment was made, "he made the decision "

I was stunned .Whaaat ? I asked. Yes he made the decision.

So from a random conversation and by sheer coincidence I found out who made the decision to draw a line through our community causing angst and pain, pitching local against local during a time of extreme fear and upheaval.

The Category 3 ID was a line drawn in haste . It was totally unnecessary and was one of those hasty decisions that was made by the hidden shiny arse brigade in Wellington with help from information supplied by local public servants.

I had tried to find out who made the decision and now I know.

It confirms in my mind that the process that evolved all to quickly following the flood was ill conceived and though well intentioned had such a drastic affect on our community (and others) that it should never be followed again.

The disconnect between the people and the bureaucrats has never been greater and accountability will never occur with the current setup.

I will not divulge the name of the decision maker because he is but one in a chain of command that is possibly implicated in many Government decisions that have had major impacts on communities.

Suffice to say it helps put the picture together for later reference.  

   

 

   

 

Urban Rural Divide

For years it has been purported that there has been an urban rural divide.

New Zealand used to have a population where nearly everyone had a contact or family that had a rural connection. It was common to have holidays on a farm or to go and stay with relatives and enjoy a break from city life.

Kiwis understood what went on in the country and there was a common sense of purpose .

Over the last few years with a surge in population the division is more apparent and the latest round of Government dictates has emphasised how far things have moved .How the gap has widened and how out of touch some urbanites are with the rural sector.

Some of the suggestions coming out of suburbia to solve Local Government problems are frankly scary and underline how far down the track we are to ignoring the importance of the rural sector and its key role in leading export returns for New Zealand.

The South Island is surging ahead with a shift in population discovering once quiet , comfortable and beautiful surroundings that are now being settled with carefully coloured and positioned houses that overlook lakes and valleys and vineyards that will soon be spoilt in the rush.

It's bloody cold in the winter but that's good for skiing and closed roads and panel beaters .

The urban excitement taking place is going to play out in more control of rural problems, as the Government shifts democratic decision making  from land owners to wannabe landowners and environmental zealots  that think they understand nature. 

One suggested solution to changing local government has a business model with experts around a table making decisions (because business people know best) .They will have representatives of all interested parties of course but once set up it will be an arrogant takeover of ratepayers money in to yet another trough for mates and matesses.

We are in for a major shift to urban control of rural areas and farmers, growers and related people of the land are in for a very difficult time.    

   

Unfathomable

Over the last week their have been many media stories about the forced local government  agenda and it is truly alarming the extent and speed by which things are rolling out.

As well, it is alarming that the variations being proposed are creating an absolute mish mash of options that are going to have ratepayers crying in their home havens while trying to decipher what is happening to their councils that have become agents of theft and chambers of non representation.

One council came out and said there is no way they are going to play the game and another had options that read like the  confusion of a kindergarten playground . Clearly no clear organisation and a poor attempt at appeasing a bullying government .

New proposed councils that have urban Mayors leading regions is going to lead to mayhem among rural ratepayers and before long calls to reinstate what we had established. 

A Minister came out and said he had been told to go harder and faster. By whom? 

That has to be a big porkie and if true, could only come from those who have an agenda that believes in the tooth fairy that tells them the rates will come down if they do as they are told.

It is a pity the Minister was not questioned by the compliant media person although he was part of the crowd who have been convinced bigger is better and rates will be reduced. 

Another horror story came from another minister who , while puffed up like a pious pigeon , said that if councils don't do as they are told the invisible bureaucrats in Wellington will make the decision for them' This is wrong on so many fronts and yet there is little resistance.     

It is a totally undemocratic and affront to ratepayers to think that  the shiny arse brigade residing in Wellington have any idea of the complicated makeup of regional New Zealand and how local government operates.

Imposing  the urban approach to many rural areas throughout the country is going to challenge long time established norms and pitch rural against urban like never before.

All ratepayers want rates to come down but this is not the way to do it.       

 

 Forcing Ratepayers

I'm surprised there has not been more pushback from ratepayers over a Government threatening to force councils to amalgamate in some form or face the wrath of a Minister who is driven by some ideological dream that has convinced him that bigger is better and Central government knows better than the people on the ground.

It was telling this last week when a former  National Minister,  now Councillor , admitted that after supporting the Auckland Super Council he now sees it as a failure.

The touted savings never eventuated and in fact have increased by 25% and staff numbers keep growing.

This is what will happen around the country if the dictates of the current minister occur.  

Local Government is just that , local. That's the way it should stay . The bigger is better argument does not apply in this situation because of the roles of councils and the variation of situations throughout New Zealand.

The worst part of the equation is the elimination of Regional Councils.

The role of Regional Councils is critical in maintaining an infrastructure around catchments that has been only too critical in recent times. 

If they are absorbed in to unitary authorities the importance of regional issues such as pests, catchments ,water , air , TB, transport and others will be diminished by the urban clamour for dollars for never ending desires of never been in business busybodies who expand their expenditure like a ratepayer bungy .

There will also be small councils that are fiscally responsible and have little or no debt that will get swallowed up in the quest for council perfection.

That's without getting in to the ownership of assets like ports that were deliberately given to regional councils in the 1998 restructuring. 

That's another big argument.   

 An End to 2C

Those in category 2c following Gabrielle have had a long wait to finally see the tag removed.

It was like a mark on your life as though you had done something wrong. Now the work that is being done or will be done to theoretically make us safer has proven enough to authorities to shift us all back to the land of normal.

No one out there in wider society will have any idea about the effectiveness or not of a reaction that has cost millions in questionable expenditure.

It is amazing what can be done with modelling but all the modelling in the world will not replace accumulated  experience and logic of learned engineers and long term residents that  could have been instrumental in injecting solutions for the people that did not cost a fortune and maintained our  long term prospects.

It has been sad to see a community go from an area where it was sought after, a prime location, thriving,  productive and busy to a shadow of itself and now being eyed up by some who have no respect for the potential that still exists in the surrounding land.