Mayor Crosby and Chamber buddies choose to (again, Council meeting 22 June 2010) ridicule Cr Curach's bid to reduce the excessive rate requirement impact on our residents and ratepayers, rather than add value.
Consistently throughout this triennium some elected members, sadly only a minority, have focused on putting meaningful effort into rate reducing initiatives, with some measure of success.
Like most us, no less myself, Cr. Curach doesn't always get it right, but our getting it wrong has not added multimillions of dollars of debt on to the ratepayer, does not throw millions of dollars at lawyers and consultants, has no potential to bankrupt our city.
Rate reduction opportunities exist(ed) without the need to reduce levels of service as professed by some.
In the past, and again in response to Cr Curach's most recent notice of motion, ‘Team Crosby' refers to the cost to the community by way of staff time taken up. 'I don't mind sitting here debating this for 2 hours”, says one of the pack with others grunting in approval, 'but look at all the staff behind us and the cost!”
This is the same pack that supports the millions wasted on bus shelters and inner city terminals, under the table $400,000 cash payment to the Elms (contrary to TCC policy in my opinion), Baypark purchase losses and excessive procurement costs, to name a few.
The hypocrisy of some will be further demonstrated when they hop out of Mayor Crosby's bed closer to the election to distance themselves from him and their own collective extravagance and mismanagement of our city, even opposing his Mayoral nomination. I can already hear them loudly proclaiming their independence and that they are ‘the ratepayers friend'. Reminds me of the ‘Little Red Riding Hood' story!
Cr. Murray Guy, Tauranga.