City Councillors and their CEO are visionless

The Proposed Tauranga City Council Long Term Plan 2015-2025 shows no vision. City Councillors are obsessed with the level of Council debt, but fail to realise that if they control their cost structure then the debt will manage itself. A quick look at the burgeoning staff numbers will show that this Council is overloaded with bureaucratic planners, and not enough action orientated frontline staff. I am sure that Council could perform effectively with a reduction of approximately 40% from the current staff levels.

TCC appears in total disarray. Their property division continues to give mixed messages, and no one seems to know what they are doing. The proposed selloff of the greenspace alongside Takitimu Drive Expressway (the main entrance to the city) is a classic example. The Council property team notified Fourth Avenue residents in December 2014 that they were considering selling two Fourth Avenue properties (adjourning the Expressway) that are currently considered greenspace. They continue to give residents mixed messages, and often don’t even bother to respond to queries. The proposed properties for sale are listed incorrectly on the Council database. Now the CEO, Garry Poole tells me that Council is considering all the property adjourning the Expressway, from Fourth to Eighth Avenue. Included in the list are:

120,121 & 127 Fourth Avenue

98 Fifth Avenue

97 & 99 Sixth Avenue

105 Eighth Avenue

It truly is a shambles. There is no transparency - something the new (2013) Councillors promised us. Reading today about the 86 “secret meetings” (that’s one every week) is not good governance – something that they pride themselves in. The previous Council (2010 to 2013) might have been dysfunctional, but at least there was a semblance of transparency. This current crowd are showing a total disrespect for the democratic process; no vision; and combine all this with poor governance. I am sorry but we have to look at their leadership – the CEO and Mayor steer this ship, and it is a huge disappointment. Mayor Crosby has been on Council for 30 years, and his ship is sinking.

This is a great city, but its heart is stagnating. Residents and Ratepayers can’t afford to be apathetic. We need strong leadership. The clock is ticking….

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me at andrew@vond.co.nz

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Regional Council’s planning process is a joke

One has to ask… What is the point of submitting to Regional Council Annual Plans?

In January I wrote a 13 page submission to the Regional Council’s Land Transport Plan 2015 to 2045. I wanted to be heard but was only given one date, with only one weeks’s notice. I couldn’t make that date, so my submission wasn’t heard in person. As a former Regional Councillor I know that if you want to have your submission taken seriously you have to be heard in person. In this case, not only was I unable to present my case in person, I now see that the committee has deliberated, and the Regional Council has resolved to accept the recommendations of the hearing committee, and yet the Regional Council hasn't even had the decency to reply to my written submission….

The Draft (30 year) Regional Transport Plan 2015-2045 was, in my opinion, one of the “lightest” pieces of work that I have read in a long time. It lacked real vision, and was not written in “plain English” which is a policy requirement adopted by the Regional Council. The full Council, in adopting this Plan, shows a lack of good governance, and confirms to me that this Regional Council needs a massive shake up. Yes they are doing some good catchment work for the rivers and streams that flow into the Tauranga Harbour, but the financial commitment to reversing the sediment that is daily increasingly destroying our beautiful harbour, is just a joke. This Council receives (via its CCO, Quayside Holdings) around $40m a year in dividend income from the Port of Tauranga, and yet will only commit a couple of million dollars back into the harbour’s maintenance. Instead the money is wasted on bureaucratic staff, who love to write reports, yet achieve very little.

If you think the proposed 8.5% rate increase is just for next year, then you need to think again. Your Regional Council has plans for even bigger increases in each of the next few years! Furthermore, Tauranga and Western Bay ratepayers, instead of having their rates spent in their area, continue to subsidise Rotorua and Eastern Bay ratepayers, year after year. I will get to the bottom of the actual amount of cross subsidisation, and report in a future publication. But for now, be assured that Rotorua ratepayers are bleeding Tauranga City ratepayers dry.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me at andrew@vond.co.nz

Regional Council propose an 8.5% rate increase - outrageous

Feedback from my last editorial was that our Regional Council was indignant that I said that they received around $40m in dividend income from the 73,687,536 shares owned by Quayside Holdings (their 100% subsidiary) in Port of Tauranga. I didn’t drill into the detail in which Quayside issued $200m of perpetual preference shares (effectively borrowing from investors), and therefore part of this $40m dividend goes towards paying interest to these investors. However BOP Regional Council receive the interest on the $200m plus an approximatey $4m a year in tax credits, with the proviso that they spend this money on regional infrastructure initiatives. This was a really smart move by our regional council which has seen that $200m fund grow substantially. I would note however that this was established in 2008, and yet 7 years on the Bay of Plenty hasn’t seen much of this promised infrastructural spend.

Come on BOP Regional Council – an 8.5% proposed rate rise for our ratepayers is a disgrace. Regional Councillors are elected (by us) to use their governance skills to put a blow torch to inefficiency and ineffectiveness, and yet they continue to allow an already bloated bureaucracy to continue in what can only be described as “out of control.”

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me.