After Long Term Plan considerations by Tauranga City councillors the trusty old rubber stamp was added last week. It appears rates will increase some three to 20 per cent per annum depending how lucky/unlucky you are over three years.

Desperate councillors chose to navigate the rates minefield in an aloof fashion, on one side, desperate to appease their masters (spendaholic council staff) and self-interest groups, on the other, to hide the truth from TCC ratepayers of what's coming.

The political game here is simply about how much rate increase can be imposed whilst retaining a warm comfy seat. The shortfall becomes mushrooming debt to pay later. That is done to avoid the public backlash from linking spending with rate increases.

This is simply ‘spend now, pay later' and can only end badly for TCC ratepayers.

In three to 10 years TCC debt will be much higher than now. Debt at three times now in 10 years means about three times more rates. Small increases now means large increases later.

Kaipara District Council followed this same path – no accountability, no transparency – and behind closed doors debt doubled, commissioners arrived and immediately rates doubled. It's then too late to change anything.

I Stevenson, Tauranga (Abridged).