Tauranga City Aquatics Ltd (TCAL) reported their six monthly accounts to council last week.
Councillor Bill Faulkner states 'TCAL's accounts are hard to follow for a casual observer and he's not going to put too much faith in the numbers”.
Like: A six month surplus of $1.4m achieved against a budgeted loss of $62,000 while the closure of the Mount Hot Pools resulted in $300,000 in lost revenue - go figure.
Faulkner correctly states 'these bean counter's figures are academic nonsense to us mere mortals”. The fact is, TCAL's pools cost ratepayers about $2 million a year, and will cost ratepayers even more next year.
Councillor Faulkner is correct to cast aspersions on this 'financial academic nonsense” but he (and his fellow councillors) are failing the ratepayers who elected them by not demanding a full investigation into TCAL's financial mess, a financial investigation which 'we mere mortals” can understand.
TCC's debt is already at the limits set by Standard and Poors, which makes it all the more important the City keeps ratepayers fully informed during these tight economic times, rather than councillors allow these 'bean counters” to serve up 'mushroom treatment” to one and all.

Max Lewis, Mount Maunganui.