THE – BEACH RESIDENTS AND RATEPAYERS ASSOCIATION

MAY 2020 NEWSLETTER

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS? In September last year the Katikati Advertiser published a half page advertorial for us which was sponsored by KKBS. The text we provided was edited by NZME’s office which changed the message we were hoping to give to readers. NZME agreed to publish another ad at no cost to the Association. We provided them with another text but the day before deadline it was returned to us with a request to substantiate seven statements we had made. One question was in regard to data from the NZ Taxpayers Union. “Can it be relied upon?” they wanted to know. Four times since August 2017 the BOP Times has used data from the NZ Taxpayers Union website as the basis of major articles without expressing any reservations about the reliability of that data. Some of the subjects covered in this Newsletter were discussed in that advertorial, but have been updated and expanded. They are marked by an asterisk.

SUPPORTING LOCALS* Local papers have been reporting that Western Mayor Garry Webber wants people in the Western Bay to shop locally. "Given current circumstances, now more than ever is the time to support our local people, businesses and suppliers” he said. Bang on, Mr Webber. That's really good thinking. Perhaps your Council should lead by example? Just about everything Council does is out-sourced to overseas-owned companies. WBOPDC has lump sum contracts for parks and reserves maintenance with Downer (majority owned in Australia), for roading with a joint venture between Downer and the Canadian company WSPNZ Ltd and for maintenance of the “three waters” infrastructure with Veolia. These companies’ profits go overseas. They are based in Tauranga so most of their staff live there, pay rates to TCC and do their purchasing in Tauranga. These contracts are district-wide so are probably too big for local companies to take on. However, they could be split into ward-size chunks that could be handled by local companies. The parks and reserves maintenance contracts could be tendered on community-sized areas. A larger number of separate contracts might require more administration but should result in lower overall costs. The profits and wages would stay in the district and WBOPDC would collect their rates. WBOPDC is planning a kerb-side recycling contract in conjunction with TCC which will almost certainly be awarded to a big overseas company and will put the small local companies currently doing rubbish collections out of business. Now, more than ever, it is time for Mr Webber’s Council to practise what he preaches. We think that rates money raised in WBOP should wherever possible be spent in our district. Because Council’s headquarters are in Tauranga it is only natural for most of their staff to live in Tauranga, particularly because rates in TCC are significantly less than in WBOPDC. The majority of WBOPDC staff will be spending most of their disposable income in Tauranga. This makes it even more important that our Council spends as much of their outgoings in our district.

DEALING WITH COVID-19* Our Prime Minister and her Cabinet Ministers are taking a pay cut of 20%, albeit for just six months. Many directors and managers of private companies are taking similar pay cuts. Thousands of workers are losing their jobs or being put on shorter hours. Pensioners with their savings in term deposits have had their interest payments cut severely. The incomes of thousands of ratepayers in WBOPDC have been reduced in the last few months. WBOPDC claims to have an economic recovery plan to support the local economy and provide relief from the impact of Covid-19 which is based on direct council financial support, wider economic recovery, community well-being and relationships with iwi/hapu organisations. But, apart from the opportunity to postpone rates payments there is nothing there to help ratepayers. On the contrary, ratepayers are going to have their rates increased by 1.98%, down from 3.5% because of ratepayer pressure. This increase in rates is unnecessary. There are a number of ways Council can cut costs so that they could actually reduce rates: • Cut out all capital expenditure on unnecessary capital projects like the Lund Road car park, boat ramps in the harbour, road works at Quayside Holdings’ Business Park, and the Waihi to Whakatane cycleway. • Freeze all new salary increases and cut the portion of staff salaries above $60,000 by 20%. • Have an independent person carry out an audit of Council’s governance and management processes with a view to reducing costs. • Put all new residential developments on hold. • Council has $30 million cash and short term deposits that they should use to pay down long-term debt. • Sell non-core assets like the Lund Road forestry block.

THREE MILE CREEK WBOPDC has a resource consent to remove sand from the mouths of all four creeks at when they block up with sand. The previous consent allowed them to do this 25 times a year for Three Mile Creek but the new consent limits them to ten times. Five months into the new consent they have already cleared Three Mile Creek eleven times, the last one we assume with a special dispensation from Regional Council. The swampy land behind the dunes originally drained into the harbour. Three Mile Creek is a canal that was cut through the dunes to try to drain the swamp.

Three Mile Creek was blocked again on 15 May 2020. Note the colour of the water and scum on the surface

The initial announcements about Government relief from the effects of Covid-19 stated they were going to finance, amongst other things, de-silting rivers and projects to improve the environment. Three Mile Creek and, to a lesser extent Two Mile Creek are blocking up so frequently that perhaps a bit of “de-silting” could be carried out to divert them back into the harbour. There are serious problems with the way blockages of Three Mile Creek are cleared, but we will discuss these in a subsequent Newsletter.

COUNCIL PERSONNEL COSTS * Earlier this month the BOP Times published the results of an investigation by Kiri Gillespie on the “alarming” rise in wage costs at Tauranga City Council (TCC). Wages for TCC staff had risen 9.75% in the last year. The increase in personnel costs at WBOPDC was even more alarming at 11.5 %. If Council increase rates by 1.98% they will increase their income by $1.4 million. Salaries are a major component of operating costs, and comprise 30% of Council’s income from rates. Personnel costs increased by 11.5% from 2018 to 2019. If we assume the proposed 2020-21 Annual Plan is based on a similar increase, freezing salaries and wages at the current level would result in a saving of $2.3 million. No need to increase rates at all. Additional savings could be made by cutting the portion of all salaries over $60,000 by 20%. For example, someone on $100,000 would have $40,000 of that reduced by 20% and end up with a cut of $8,000. This would put this employee’s salary more in line with salaries at TCC and result in additional savings of $1,260,000. It appears that WBOPDC staff are paid significantly more than their counterparts at TCC. This disparity can be confirmed using data published on the NZ Taxpayers website. Calculations show that the average salary of TCC employees is $82,209, while for WBOPDC staff it is $88,301. We urge members to write to your councillors and to your local paper asking that rates be frozen for at least the next twelve months and point out what can be done to reduce costs. We don’t think there is anything to be gained by contacting Mayor Webber. All the people we know who emailed him got the same (probably automated) reply. Council will be meeting to confirm the Annual Plan on 11th June. COMMUNITY BOARDS Our Katikati and Waihi Beach Community Boards have been pro-active in trying to limit rates increases. Ross Goudie, the Chair of the Waihi Board made a direct appeal to Mayor Webber, CEO Taris and DCO Allis to freeze rates at the last Ward Forum meeting. The Katikati board has also called for a rates freeze for at least twelve months. WBOP ratepayers should be pleased by most of the requests to the Annual Plan by both Community Boards. These include: • The Katikati Bypass should be officially designated as an immediate roading project either for NZTA or Council. • Council operations should be reviewed to identify where savings can be made and assets can be disposed of. • The Lund Road forestry area should be sold, with caveats to allow council to develop cycle-ways and horse-riding tracks, and access for waste water disposal if this is ever required. • More focus on highly utilized sporting and leisure amenities and less focus on providing cycle-ways. Unfortunately Council appears to have approved all requests to spend money and none of those to cut expenditures. The BOP Times reports that “Webber said the rates debate was always fraught with difficulty and referred to two community boards asking for a rates freeze while in the same submission asking for more cycle-ways.” Community boards should be asking for what they think their area needs. It is Council’s job to decide what projects to fund. If Council was more efficient we could have cycle-ways and a rates freeze. You can get more information on these and other requests in the “Annual Plan and Long Term Plan Committee Meeting Agenda on Council’s website.

PAPAMOA RATEPAYER’S SURVEY RESULTS* The Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association ran an online poll asking if people want a zero residential rates increase for the 2020/2021 financial year - 93 per cent of the 1200 participants said yes. Other results were 93% not wanting an extra charge for the proposed council-controlled rubbish/recycling pick-up, and 96% wanting Council to reduce their operating expenditure. Comments made by the respondents indicate that these people have much the same concerns as Western Bay of Plenty people; - The rates are too high, the service is poor and they don’t want the Council-controlled rubbish/recycling scheme. You can find all the results and the respondent’s comments by googling “Tauranga ratepayers want zero pay rise”. We think if we ran a similar survey for Western Bay of Plenty District Council we would get similar results.

GOVERNMENT LOLLY SCRAMBLE WBOPDC has applied for $250 million dollars from central government for the following projects: • $97 million for the Katikati Bypass • $17 million for road improvements at Omokoroa • $5 million for Welcome Bay Road multimodal upgrade • $36 million for an interchange on SH2 for the Rangiuru Business Park • $23 million for road upgrades at the Rangiuru Business Park, and • $71 million for a cycleway from Omokoroa to Waihi. We have serious reservations about the last three projects. Even though it is taxpayer’s money it should not be used to subsidise Quayside Holdings’ business park. Quayside holdings are the commercial arm of Bay of Plenty Regional Council and, with a majority share in Port of Tauranga, are well able to pay for this development. It is hard to comprehend the rationale of spending $71 million on a cycleway that will probably be used by only a handful of people each day. The projects that central government wants to enable are those that will provide plenty of work for people who would otherwise be unemployed. Roads and cycle-ways are very expensive to build but do not provide many jobs. These projects should be given the cost/benefit test. We should not be incurring unnecessary debt that our children will have to pay back.

We welcome feed-back on these articles. If you would like to join our association please email us at [email protected].

You can also read occasional topical items on our Facebook page by googling “facebook westernwardratepayers” Our most recent post about reducing the rates increase has been re-posted on the Katikati Buy Sell and Swap Anything, Katikati Area Road Information, Waihi Beach Notice Board, and Waihi – Waihi Beach Noticeboard pages. It has had over a eleven hundred engagements.

SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW DUE

Annual subs of $20 per household are now due. Please send cheques to us C/- Keith Hay, 19 The Crescent, Waihi Beach.

For internet banking our account at the ANZ is 01 0298 0020943 00. Please provide your name and phone number with the deposit so we know who has paid.

PLEASE SUPPORT US SO WE CAN KEEP THE PRESSURE ON OUR COUNCILS TO KEEP RATES DOWN AND PROVIDE COST-EFFECTIVE SERVICE TO RATEPAYERS. [email protected] Chairman: Norm Mayo, 07 549 0326 Secretary: Keith Hay, 07 863 1399 19 The Crescent, Waihi Beach