Completed financial assistance application forms are flooding in for gastro crisis-affected Havelock North businesses but one business owner is not convinced by the scheme.
The Village Butcher owner, Paul Greaney, said he saved $8000 for a water-free machine, but was forced to use the money to keep his business afloat during the contamination.
Customers dried up and his machine ground to halt when Havelock North's water was contaminated with E.coli three weeks ago, infecting thousands with campylobacter. The Hastings District Council is still looking for the cause. A boil water notice has been in place since, making it impossible for the butcher to make sausages.
The council yesterday announced $100,000 of financial help for businesses affected financially during the outbreak.
The council's website stipulates the assistance is not designed to provide compensation and these matters are likely to "turn on issues of eventual legal liability".