Cr Bill Faulkner Faulkners Corner www.sunlive.co.nz

Welcome to council 2012. It is back in full swing spending this week completing the draft 3/10 Year Plan to go out for your consultation.

Financial inroads are being made into the first cut, but there's still a long way to go before the final cut by June.

Problem is still the same old story – too much left to do at the end of ratepayers' capacity to pay. Plus there's still too much fat left in the system.

The way this goes, in my view, is that there is ‘this much budget for any given year' so ‘that's the base for next year'.

But the work that needs doing in a lot of cases is not the same.

Zero based budgeting was tried many years ago, but didn't succeed principally because, in my opinion again, the staff of the day didn't want it to.

It involved a lot of extra work and was far too transparent.

To be fair, there is a need for some contingency budget in council's accounts for those thousand and one items that crop up unexpectedly during the year.

Water systems solid

Water services staff gave a comprehensive overview of our city water systems this week.

It's as good as we sensibly can afford with two new reservoirs planned for the next six years.

At any given time there is three-four days capacity available.

Water metering in Tauranga has saved ratepayers into the many millions by reducing wastage and thus delaying an expensive new plant.

Just a look's no good

The saga of the Matapihi rail bridge walkway continues. Staff were proposing a $600,000 replacement, even though the rail bridge itself was on a limited life span.

Some elected members had a look at it and called for a review of the need for replacement for the walkway.

It transpires that the consultant's report was also only a visual inspection – whoop de doo. Anyone can look and speculate.

There is some work needed on the mesh fencing, handrail and bracing, but until the boardwalk is lifted to inspect the steel supports, no-one knows what should really be done.

Staff quoted in their recommendation 'the high risk to council” without saying what that risk was and why.

Most unsatisfactory and council consequently included a much reduced $50,000 for extra work pending a proper report.

Railways are responsible for the steelwork under the contractual arrangements made when the walkway was built.

Council to compete

The crematorium operation came under scrutiny consequent to news Legacy Funerals are building their own which will take 37 per cent of business away from council.

There are 1090 crematoriums budgeted in the current year at $430 each.

There can be no ratepayer subsidy in this and council needs to now compete.

First thing is to move the discussion about how to do this in confidential.

I said that discussing this business in open is not the best way of doing business.

Legacy doesn't tell council what it is doing.

The power of publicity

Tourism Bay of Plenty came along asking for $600,000 extra to make good the negative publicity from media reports on Rena.

Interesting proposal isn't it.

Negative headline news on the front page, unpaid for, in prime public view, while on the inside pages a positive advertisement (paid for by ratepayers) saying it's really okay. Which it is! But getting the message out in the face of all the negativity is pushing water uphill with a rake.

Council declined the proposal, but will work to get funding from other sources including the ship owners, charterers and insurers.

After all we, every New Zealander, are the victims of this.

City centre to have university

An interesting and lengthy presentation from the University of Waikato proposing council grant a 33-year lease, at no cost, to enable them to build a staged university campus in Durham Street.

It's presently a leased carpark. Government won't help when it comes to capital expenditure like land and buildings purchase.

So council is first cab off the rank.

Ratepayers put up the land, the benefactors like charitable trusts put up money for the buildings, students pay their fees and government/taxpayers put up the balance for the operational expenditure.

The proposal was accepted unanimously.

The university will populate the CBD with 500 more students and associated people (like staff).

Existing revenue streams from car parking will be retained – parking will be part of the building – and they will pay rates.

It's another part of this council's determination to help people help themselves.

Interesting that time and again it's the land cost that kills projects.

With the cost of building and operating soaring the land becomes the fly in the ointment.

This happens in residential housing and in my opinion is caused in part by introducing artificial boundaries which limit land supply.

Flood frustration

Over the Christmas break the Historic Village flooded yet again. This is in spite of significant and expensive stormwater prevention works completed recently.

It's not official, but I understand a wooden shutter that enables eels to swim up the drain got jammed open by a piece of wood allowing stormwater back up the drain. Accidental?

You would hope so, but a couple of days later someone checked the shutter and there was another piece of wood jamming in it again – but no flood.

The shutter is now checked regularly.

This week's mindbender from Bonnie Pruden ‘You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again.'