Paul Belcaster
Parkvale
Spring is here
This morning I checked the garden and the asparagus spears have pushed their way into the sunlight, Spring is here.
David Riley
Whakamarama
Rates shock
On receiving my rates bill for 2018/19 I was aghast that the regional council rates had gone up a massive $115, this being an increase of 45 per cent on 2017/18 period. I cannot recall the public being informed of this massive increase and the reasons for it, if it was it must have been in small print.
As a semi-retired businessperson, I could never justify more than a 5 to 7 per cent increase over three years to my clients, even with major increases in fuel, wages, health and safety, and added expenses due to new Government regulations.
It appears the biggest increase is in the transport rate which is subsiding the bus service in Tauranga City Council boundaries and still seems to have many large buses running around with minimal passengers utilising them outside peak periods.
So how does the council justify these increases when, in my opinion, little has changed over the last 12 months in providing improved services such as more frequent times in smaller buses?
As the election is next year, I shall be taking a more active campaign to change some of existing long-term councillors who have not made much effort to control these massive rates increases for senior citizens and lower-income families living on limited budgets with little or no opportunity to meet these new demands. (Abridged)
AM Murton
Bethlehem
