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The Informer

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BY GORDON T I was in a local establishment the other day, quietly having a beer with a few distinguished gentlemen who seem to reside at that establishment, when the topic came up of the Government indicating that they would do away with the number of Councils, having us deal with only one. This seemed a…

BY GORDON T

I was in a local establishment the other day, quietly having a beer with a few distinguished gentlemen who seem to reside at that establishment, when the topic came up of the Government indicating that they would do away with the number of Councils, having us deal with only one. This seemed a popular move to everybody in the whole group as they all pay about $500 every year to the Waikato Regional Council, with no apparent benefit being realised.

Our mate Olive, not his real name; it stands for ‘Oracle of Local Industry Ventures and Establishments’, piped up to explain that the Regional Council employs the Harbour Master, controls the water ways and does all sorts of other stuff. Maybe he had a point, but I generally feel the value of a politician is not in what they claim they do, but the benefits and value we actually receive. I said to Olive, “Forget what they say they do. What benefit does the’ Village’ receive from Waikato Regional Council involvement?”

This forced Olive to screw up his face as he pondered his answer. Finally, he responded. “They tow the diving platforms out to Brophy’s Beach and Cooks Beach every spring and bring them back at the end of summer.” The gardener, who was quietly drinking, responded quickly. “Is that all we get for $500 each? I could swim them out for less than that!”

Now I knew the Gardener couldn’t swim a donut past the surf, but before I could comment, Olive added, “It’s worse than that. One of the platforms is needing repairs so they only towed one out last summer, and we didn’t get a discount”. 

I quickly added, “Not only are they of little benefit but they can be a hindrance.  Just look at how long it took them and the TCDC to decide they could fix the ‘Shark Bite’ – about 18 months”. The Uber man, who had been quiet to that point, added, “It seems they only gave consent for one load of rocks, because it looks like they only filled half of the ‘Shark Bite’. We couldn’t help but agree with him.

The conversation paused. Olive, who was first finished his beer, started diverting attention from himself whose round it was. I broke the quiet. “We all seem to agree the Regional Council seems to be as useful as teats on a bull, but how about the Council, what benefit are they to us all?” There was a general lack of comment at that point until the Gardener responded, “Wealth distribution – they take a bucket load of cash from all of us on the East Coast and spend it on Thames; but that’s hardly a benefit.”

Olive was in his oracular element here explaining to us that the Council looked after water, sewerage, roads, parks and all sorts of other things. I had to interject though, stating “They obviously perform some needed functions, but they waste heaps of money on “consultation” exercises they always ignore and do what they wanted to do originally, producing magazines in competition with local companies doing the same thing, increasing staff rather than curbing expenditure and tightening their belt. The list goes on and on”. 

Olive finally came back with the next beer so I could stop talking and take a sip. The Gardener filled the gap pointing out “The Council should be able to tow out the diving platform without raising our rates by $500” to which the Uber man responded, “Don’t bet on it”.

The conversation carried on with everyone making a few points but in general agreeing that things could be more efficient and cheaper for us if we only had the one Council to deal with and logically that should be the District Council. The general concern was now back with the existing District Council we have. As the Uber man pointed out, “How can you trust this Council to be careful with our money, they just look like women on a shopping frenzy. Rates are going up at more than twice the rate of inflation next year, and then there is the capital rating increases they are ramming through despite 56% of the community being against it. How can they be trusted with our money?”

“Well,” Olive responded, “There is an election coming up.”

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