Letters to the editor: Council review would put matter to rest

Rotorua Lakes Council. Photo / File

Rotorua Lakes Council is in the media for all the wrong reasons.

There has been growing disquiet about the council's perceived excessive spending, huge rates rises and growing debt, especially in this post-Covid world.

Things have come to a head with the appointment of seven deputy chief executives, significant pay rises, and an expected $75,000 in consultancy fees to draft this "realignment".

A deputy is defined as a person appointed to undertake the duties of a superior in the superior's absence.

Why seven?

Again, for some time, there have been rumblings by ratepayers wanting an independent review of the council's performance.

Calls for a review have been described by the mayor as "nonsense" and "silly chatter" (News, June 28 & 29).

Why such an aversion to an independent review if all is above board, if spending hasn't been excessive, if staff appointments and pay rises are all justified, if forecast debt levels can be contained, if the 10-year plan is realistic?

A council review would put the matter to rest.

Paddi Hodgkiss
Rotorua

Pay-your-own-way forward

The millions of dollars being wasted on emergency housing amazes me.

An average of $400,000 per week in Rotorua is dead money. Surely someone with more grey matter than those ready to dish this money out must be able to come up with more prudent uses of taxpayers' money.

Why not evaluate people and families to see if they would be interested in owning their own homes and if they were of a mindset to look after said home.

Instead of making the motels rich, the Government should buy appropriate houses and put these people into them on a pay-your-own-way forward.

People put into these houses should pay rent they can afford, and rates and insurance as if they owned them, like the rest of the community does.

The house can remain state owned in perpetuity, but the owner can live in the house as long as they live and can leave it to family only.

It goes back in the pot if no family can be installed as the next owner.

Admittedly, there will be those in temporary accommodation who would never be suitable for re-homing.

These people need different things and that's another problem the Government needs to sort out.

An alternative to just chucking money and dreaming of building enough houses to fix this problem would be a challenge for any government.

Rod Petterson
Rotorua

Phone book hanging on for dear life

It is that time of year again - I have found the phone book stuffed in my letterbox.

This is the fourth year that I have tried to divest myself of this curse.

Unsubscribing does not work- I have tried.

Obviously, someone has a vested interest in its survival, hence its ability to cling to life.
On my daily walk into the CBD, I witness these poor, soggy creatures scattered on berms, walls, and face first in letterboxes, their plastic, (yes single-use plastic covers) spotted by rain.

Mine is dry and warm in my recycle bin.

The phone book lives on against the odds and despite a high mortality rate. This endangered species is desperately being kept alive despite its shrinking habitat.

Lesley Haddon
Rotorua

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