Letters: Ratepayers right to complain about council

Readers urge the Rotorua Lakes Council to cover basic services. Photo/File

Kate Gore (Letters, November 1) is surprised many ratepayers have gripes with our council spending money on dubious projects such as the city bike path or revamping the City Focus. While we all agree that we have a beautiful city, this has come at the cost of ever-increasing council debt which must be repaid at some stage. This debt is ratepayers' debt and amounts to over $2000 that every man, woman and child who lives in Rotorua owes.

When this debt has to be repaid, is she happy giving the owners of this debt $2000 for each of her family and/or see the council forced to sell our aquatic centre, parks, library etc to repay this debt? For our council to have a seemingly limitless credit card with debt earning interest that must be paid regularly is real and this interest amounts to about a million dollars every month. The total annual interest payments equate to the rates from about 500 residential properties where these rates are not directly adding any value to Rotorua. Surely Kate Gore does not operate financially like our council?

Our mayor got into office promising that this debt would be reduced and instead is heading in the opposite direction which can only be viewed as financial incompetence. So yes, some of us ratepayers who live in this city and love this city do have this gripe with the council and it is well founded!

PAUL CARPENTER
Rotorua

In response to Kate Gore's letter I agree we do have a beautiful city with so many assets,
but with the exorbitant rates and salaries we pay to council we should expect them to be accountable for providing basic amenities and services they are supposed to provide.

Instead of smelling the roses, take off those rose-tinted glasses. We do negotiate around a city that has crumbling footpaths and curbing, rubbish dumped due to high landfill prices, car wrecks on the side of the road, traffic lights that regularly don't work and stray animals.

Some properties in the inner city do have open drains, no stormwater and no sewerage as in the lakes zone. Thanks for reminding us so-called whingers that try to keep the council honest and accountable, that we shouldn't have to put up with third world standards.

Look at the millions of dollars council has wasted on white elephant projects,
and poor administration, whilst not addressing the basic services they're employed to provide.

Hard-working ratepayers are footing the bill for the interest on the multimillion-dollar debt council keeps on increasing annually, while the ratepayers go without.

I'd rather use the term whistle blower than whinger.

TRACEY McLEOD
Lake Tarawera

Parklets are pointless. A larger urban space would be ideal. For instance one located where the Community House in Haupapa St has been pulled down. It would be a big enough space for meaningful events or somewhere for office staff and town workers to take a lunch break without detracting from more parking spaces.

Parklets could become commercial spaces for adjacent cafes; if cafe is not patronised, only a selected few may use the parklet.

JESSICA PICKERING
Rotorua