Tauranga City Council wannabes' ‘argy bargy' continues over the Route K saga with some deluded souls claiming credit for facilitating the deal finally consummated in 2015.
As somebody who sought a solution to the Route K debacle since 2010, if any of these people were in any way responsible for the deal that was finally struck, they should be castigated for the cop-out!
By 2015 it was clear there was multi-million dollar peripheral residual liability associated with the actual Route K debt taken over by the New Zealand Transport Agency with the Government trade-off passing the buck for $45-50m on 15th Ave widening/new Hairini
Bridge, onto TCC ratepayers for the Route K toll road that was about to break even. What a shambles!
In October 2012, I wrote to National MPs Tony Ryall and Simon Bridges, on the topic, reiterating a Route K solution I fl oated at a meeting with Mr Ryall whereby in essence NZTA would assume liability for the interest bill, receiving future tolls with a binding
agreement to assume full Route K debt within 10 years. A win-win situation – NZTA didn't need immediate capital and TCC offl oaded a huge annual interest bill with debt stabilising. In my view there was no legal impediment, the huge protection for TCC ratepayers was debt remained on TCC books so preventing more borrowing to spend on half-baked, profligate schemes and ‘nice to have' indulgences.
Never any suggestion the 15th Ave widening costs would be fl icked onto TCC ratepayers. TCC debt today would be $460m and TCC wouldn't need to address 15th Ave/Route K deal, which is a horrible fi scal mess and supporting councillors should
be taken to task; and the Welcome Bay councillors who didn't speak out about the terms have done a grave disservice to all Welcome Bay/Ohauiti residents. One has served three terms – elected on a tunnel platform with zilch achieved – while the other claims credit for Route K deal.

Time for both to go! R Paterson, Matapihi.