B

eing a resident of one of the Tauranga City Council elder housing flats I received a letter from Anne Blakeway asking me to attend a meeting to discuss the selling, or not, of the elder housing portfolio.

The details of this letter were as follows: ‘In the 2016/17 financial year council received $1.7m in income from rents. It cost $2.2m to provide elder housing in 2016/17. This $500,000 deficit is being recovered via rent increases. It is not covered by rates'.

At the meeting I asked what the cost of depreciation was in this deficit of $500,000.The reply was $500,000. This is only a paper transaction. The council does not lose a cent.

I found it strange that the deficit and the depreciation were the same amount. The two per cent depreciation on the council value of $22.8m as stated in the letter is $456,000. Who does their books?

R Cowper, Mount Maunganui