Monday, May 21, Chronicle front page - rates up again.
This after the fanfare: "Didn't we do good" - cutting the wish list by 50 per cent to a 5.6 per cent average.
With councillors in several areas rebuffing unaffordable expenditure, one would expect some restraint.
Quips such as "we are 49th out of 69" and "the average of the ones we could find was about 5.9 per cent" are not what we want to hear. We want to hear we are number one and our increase is the lowest.
Our current debt at $113 million is out of proportion to the rate base. Wellington has a population 10 times that of Wanganui and council debt of 4.5 times.
Finance manager Fermor comments: "Everybody wants less rates, but we also want Whanganui to be a great place to live." I'll go along with both comments but add: "We the ratepayers want to be able to afford to live here."
Penny Bright in Auckland has for the last 11 years refused to pay her rates because of lack of transparency by the Auckland council, and they appear to be at it again, with the Ombudsman getting involved after RNZ complained that Auckland council would not release requested information.
As a Wanganui ratepayer, noting that the initial draft plan was for an increase of 4.5 per cent - now 4.6 per cent after extra items - I request to know what ratepayers of the Utopian Suburbs of Springvale and St John's Hill will be paying as an extra for the 2018-19 rateable year, prior to the posting out of the rates invoices.
Let's say by July 4 - the date seems to have significance for 300-plus million people elsewhere; maybe also for 40,000 people here in little old Wanganui.
F LAW, Whanganui
Clubs get together
I wish to point out an anomaly in Thursday's article "Future for clubs put to vote".
You make reference to a merger between the Wanganui RSA and Wanganui Cosmopolitan clubs, and a make up of the merged club. This is incorrect, and members of both clubs need to be aware that a merger is not on the table, but amalgamation is.
There is a big difference between merger and amalgamation. A merger is a fusion of two or more clubs whereby the identity of one or more is lost and the result is a single club.
An amalgamation signifies the blending of two or more existing clubs into one club. The blended companies form themselves into a separate legal identity with a new name, yet retain their individual branding.
Any perception of loss of identity by either club will be viewed with suspicion, so retaining each of the clubs individual identity is of paramount importance to members. It is important members of both clubs are aware of the intention for amalgamation before the respective meetings on May 27.
ROBERT ALLEN, Durie Hill Member of Wanganui RSA
Sounds like bigotry
Carol Webb places herself and others who think like her in the "fair-minded" category while labelling those who disagree with her "bigots".
Please accept that holding differing views from your own doesn't make someone bigoted. Bigotry is intolerance towards those who hold different opinions.
To be honest Carol, your letter sounds like bigotry.
Labelling councillor David Bennett a bigot for expressing his views is the pot calling the kettle black.
Is it acceptable to attack the Bible without actually reading it?
By the way, it is highly relevant to life in this or any century.
Regular readers begin to recognise their own weaknesses and grow more tolerant to those in others. I highly recommend it.
MANDY DONNE-LEE, Aramoho