A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Having highlighted a submission to the council from Gisborne Holdings Ltd director and former chairman Bob Proudfoot yesterday, it’s worth running his own words:
“GDC should bring pressure on ECT trustees to have them (change policy) to distribute directly to GDC, specifically for debt-servicing loans for infrastructure, 50 percent oftheir annual distributable sum (of $10m). This sort of sum could fund a very prompt start on prioritised LTP major infrastructure items — eg wastewater, DrainWise and Waipaoa Floodbank renovations.
“I personally do not believe our ratepayers as a whole can afford a 5 percent increase in rates annually over four to five years, let alone 10.
“ECT and its past trustees have done a fine job in building the fund . . . . However, the ‘community’ for whom the trustees act needs a significant upgrading in basic infrastructure and the community cannot afford the mooted rates increases to fund these urgent upgrades. ECT and its trustees is the only place our community can turn to in this time of need. The trust has the funds and the suggested method of distribution will not effect their power to continue distributing as in the past.
“Kaiti has waited long enough for its drainage/wastewater problems to be solved. The Waipaoa Floodbank renovations need starting yesterday. Bola was 30 years ago — when will the next cyclone of similar or worse magnitude hit our district? Everyone knows they are going to get more frequent. I write this as a concerned ratepayer personally — and not as a GHL board member.
“This is a suggestion warranting serious discussion and a quick decision. I don’t believe any of the trustees (or councillors) would be at peace in themselves after a major flood which seriously curtailed our district’s viability, if the damage could have been avoided if such a warning as this had been actioned.
“ECT is a community trust — we are its community. We need this help now or otherwise we may face an infrastructure failure that the community would struggle to recover from. If you agree with what I write, then you are the people who can influence the trustees to change their distribution policy and make it happen. Our community needs this assistance NOW.”
