Tauranga Ratepayers’ Alliance Pushes Back Against The Spin
Tauranga Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Kim Williams is today challenging spin from media and the Council Commissioners. The following statement is attributable to Ms Williams:
Commissioner spin:
Tauranga has poor infrastructure because residents enjoy low
rates.
Reality: The nationwide Ratepayers’
Report reveals Tauranga’s rates are already among the
highest in the country, and are the highest of all
metropolitan city councils.
Commissioner
spin: The 10-year plan is “about improved
amenities and water & transport projects for existing
residents, not about growth.”
Reality:
About two thirds of the planned capital investment in the
Council’s proposed long-term plan relates to
growth.
Commissioner spin: Rates on
average will increase by $1 per day – or about a bottle of
milk per household, per week.
Reality:
The $1 per day figure excludes targeted rates, including the
proposed 30% increase in water rates and 17% increase in
user fees. The total rates increase for the year is $612 for
a typical household. That’s 172 two litre milk bottles.
Under the Commissioners’ draft plan, rates are set to
double within five years.
Commissioner spin:
High rates are needed to retire
debt.
Reality: Under the
Commissioners’ plan, the Council’s debt will
increase to $1.7 billion by 2031. Per-household debt
will treble from $11,148 to about
$35,000.
Media spin: A “large
portion” of the 300 people attending the Tauranga
Ratepayers’ Alliance launch event shouted and jeered when
I gave a brief greeting in Te Reo.
Reality:
Today’s news coverage doesn't reflect the
situation at the event. Much of the noise was the audience
objecting to the two or three abusers I was looking directly
at. The room supported me. Dozens from the meeting
approached me after to offer love, support and apology.
Peter Williams absolutely condemned those two or three
bigots who enjoy the negativity of divisiveness. The media
are making a minority out as a majority. I was born in two
worlds - I have one heart. My father is Maori, my mother is
European and I am blessed to have been brought up and to
have lived in two
cultures.