Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Editorial: Getting Rotorua back on track

By Kim Gillespie
Rotorua Daily Post·
11 Feb, 2014 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Seeing Mayor Steve Chadwick appointed is just an example of some of the changes Rotorua is taking.

Seeing Mayor Steve Chadwick appointed is just an example of some of the changes Rotorua is taking.

You can't say the Rotorua District Council doesn't have a mandate for change, given both the result of the mayoral election and the overwhelming reaction to our story on Saturday about the parlous state of this city's finances in the face of mounting debt.

So it seems to be full steam ahead, with chief executive Geoff Williams this week proposing a major reorganisation that would see some council activities divided among four new council controlled organisations.

Ideally this would see the council focusing on its core activities and resulting in an overall more efficient machine - leading to reduced costs and a lighter burden on the ratepayers.

But that burden is already going to be a lot heavier given, as reported on Saturday, the 3 per cent annual rates increase we can expect.

This week's proposals are among the first steps on the road to 2030, by when the council hopes to have realised its long-term vision.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

At first that seems like a long way off, but in reality - and given the nature of planning, financing and implementing major projects - is just a short 16 years, or five elections, away.

It's clear, given the debt situation, something major needs to happen now.

On May 22 last year we reported councillor Mike McVicker's call to axe 50 council jobs. He said a proposed 0.99 per cent average rates increase was unsustainable and would be funded by debt.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Councillor Janet Wepa said at the time the debt was in response to projects the community wanted including the airport and improved lake water quality.

She said there were several options to reduce debt, including increasing rates, cutting staff numbers or dropping major capital projects.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see all three of those options may have to come into play.

We can't have our cake and eat it too.

Discover more

Editorial: Techy kids are OK

05 Feb 09:38 PM

Editorial: Face it, we love you FB

06 Feb 08:00 PM

Editorial: Why is our council in strife?

09 Feb 04:00 PM

Editorial: Child safety above all

10 Feb 04:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

'Brazen' gang attack: Mongrel Mob members avoid jail

08 Jul 04:31 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

BoP shooting happened at 'private dwelling', suspect still wanted

08 Jul 01:36 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

21yo defends wounding charge after alleged hit-and-run at night market

08 Jul 12:05 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

'Brazen' gang attack: Mongrel Mob members avoid jail

'Brazen' gang attack: Mongrel Mob members avoid jail

08 Jul 04:31 AM

Thirteen Mongrel Mob members attacked a rival gang at a Rotorua roundabout.

BoP shooting happened at 'private dwelling', suspect still wanted

BoP shooting happened at 'private dwelling', suspect still wanted

08 Jul 01:36 AM
21yo defends wounding charge after alleged hit-and-run at night market

21yo defends wounding charge after alleged hit-and-run at night market

08 Jul 12:05 AM
'Risk to the public': Police search for wanted man

'Risk to the public': Police search for wanted man

07 Jul 11:57 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search