Letter to the Editor - Thursday September 19, 2013

The grim truth

Having carefully read the council policies promised by the mayoral candidates, it is apparent that none is prepared to face the grim truth of the financial situation the council faces, both now and in the foreseeable future. Like every other one in the country, it is up to its ears in debt, over $100 million to be precise, which is costing $6 million in interest every year to service.

That is equivalent to 2400 different annual residential rates at an average of $2500 per property.

Added to that, the Government is clamouring for another $6 million in GST from FNDC on submitted rates bills that will probably become bad debts.

A company with these debts and outgoings would have gone bust long ago, but unlike the directors of failed finance companies who have to stand up in court and face the music, our councillors and Mayor are seemingly immune to culpability or responsibility.

To service this debt, and carrying out promises of improved services in various areas, is just feeding a never-ending spiral of increased costs to every single ratepayer who simply cannot sustain them any more, commensurate with huge house insurance and power bills.

The incumbent Mayor boasts that he has reduced the debt by 4 per cent in the past year. A move in the right direction, certainly, but where is the evidence of really grasping the nettle?

Disbanding the council's commercial arm, Far North Holdings, thereby saving $500k a year in directors' salaries, selling off the poorly-run businesses they own, such as Kerikeri airport and Opua wharf, would be a start towards making real inroads into the debt mountain.

Oh, and ask a visitor or tourist whether good roads or a fancy sewerage system is going to attract them to visit here. No, it's recreational and cultural facilities they want, and if it is a case of having a swimming-pool/bistro complex for everyone to enjoy at the cost of some potholes on the roads, then so be it.

Finally, what is it that the FNDC does not understand about the single biggest deterrent to people moving to Kerikeri is the lack of an A&E hospital? Many from Christchurch particularly come to mind.

I don't mind who becomes Mayor, as long as it is compulsory for them to have a logic chip inserted in their brain.

CHRIS PENNY

Kerikeri