KEY POINTS:
Rodney is looking for a new mayor to take on the tough challenge of delivering its residents' vision of a place where country and coastal lifestyles won't be spoiled by one of the fastest district growth rates in the land.
John Law, who has led the council since April 2001 after a period when it was judged dysfunctional and run by a crown-appointed commissioner, is retiring. Nine people are seeking to replace him, including former MPs Penny Webster and Brian Neeson, and two men who have locked horns with Mr Law in recent years.
One of them, Larry Mitchell, a finance and policy consultant to local government and a Puhoi resident, came within 700 votes of beating Mr Law in 2004. For his fresh bid, he has produced his financial analysis of Rodney, saying the council since 2001 has presided over a deepening financial crisis. He says rates now average $2135 a ratepayer and are likely to exceed $3000. He also predicts that Rodney's debt level of $241 million will peak in 2011 at $400 million.
Mr Mitchell says attempts during the last election to seriously debate the council's finances came to nothing.
A recent bid by some councillors to have Mr Mitchell's analysis subjected to council debate was outvoted 5-8.
One of those against urgent debate was another mayoral candidate, Wayne Walker, a two-term councillor from Whangaparaoa, who has openly opposed Mr Law on many issues.
But Mr Walker says the financial revelation was not an urgent item, because the council had information from Mr Mitchell before and the council's finance director was reporting back to the council about it.
"It doesn't mean I'm not concerned about Rodney's debt, because I raised it as an issue in the annual plan process."
Rates have overall increased annually by 6.5 per cent, 10.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent during the term of the present council.
' 'I have been voting for rate decreases every year," says Mr Walker. He has also pushed for the council to have more of a "green conscience" out of a concern, he says, for the threat which growth poses to Rodney and its special landscapes.
Mrs Webster was an Act MP 1999-2002 and says that stands her in good stead on council lobbying missions to Parliament. She served a term as chairman of the council's influential strategy and policy committee. She showed keen political skill recently in coolly hearing the concerns of a large protest gathering of Orewa residents who do not want more high-rise towers in the town. She lives at Snells Beach.
"I want to make sure that the recommendations of the Rates Inquiry get brought to fruition," she said.
The rates inquiry's conclusions are also supported by Mr Neeson, who was a National MP for 12 years but lost out to John Key as Helensville candidate in 2001. If elected he would start looking into how Rodney can lower its rates and keep them at an affordable level.
"The rating system on land value is out of date and unfair and we need a new rating system to put up to the new council to consider."
