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.