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Kaipara Mayoral candidate Bruce Rogan drew both groans and applause when he suggested the current Kaipara District Council was hell-bent on growth and extracting more rate revenue to fund it.
“If they could get more rate revenue from booting you out of your property,” he told the audience at a Meet the Candidates event at the Mangawhai Golf Club on January 16, “that’s exactly what they will do.”
Instead, Mr Rogan said the Council must develop a mindset of putting the ratepayers first. He was responding to a questioner who asked what candidates would do to ensure ratepayers approaching retirement could continue to afford to live in their homes in the wake of soaring rates.
In Council’s defence, the current acting Mayor, Peter Wethey, said he took exception to the suggestion that Council was failing to consider the burden on ratepayers. He said at a rate review meeting prior to the existing year, Council staff recommended a rate increase of 3.6 per cent, but Council instead brought it down to 2.6 per cent.
“Isn’t that the sort of focus that would be acceptable to ratepayers?” he asked.
Mr Wethey conceded that with recent higher property valuations, it would be difficult to contain further rate hikes, but he said there were processes to follow for anyone facing genuine hardship, and he recommended taking advantage of those. The exchange was one of the few testy moments at the meeting attended by seven of the eight candidates for the mayoralty, along with 70 members of the public.
The attending candidates were Bruce Rogan, Peter Wethey, Brian McEwing, Christian Simon, Craig Woollam, Jason Smith and Stephen Soole. Missing was Jay Tane.
All the candidates indicated they would devote their energies full-time to the mayoralty should they be elected, except for Christian Simon.
During the meeting, candidates outlined what were their top-of-mind issues for Kaipara.
Jason Smith said his priorities were roading, economic development of industrial land and freeing up more land for housing. Stephen Soole said Kaipara needed to recognise the challenges and opportunities presented by Kaipara’s neighbours, Auckland and Whangarei.
Christian Simon said Council needed to employ more intelligent means of waste disposal. Peter Wethey sought continued progress on roading and incremental debt reduction. Brian McEwing said Council’s focus should be on the basics, especially roading.
Craig Woollam said Council’s huge wages bill needed to be reduced and also the time taken to secure Council building consents. Bruce Rogan said his priority was to deal with “illegal debt” – a reference to the $60 million Kaipara District Council previously borrowed in secret to fund the troubled Mangawhai Sewerage Scheme.
Voting for Mayor
The Kaipara District Council is holding a by-election to elect a new Mayor after the incumbent, Greg Kent, stepped down for personal reasons in November last year. Voting will be by post and will use the single transferable voting system, which allows voters to rank candidates in the voters’ preferred order.
All eligible voters should have received their voting documents, which were posted on January 26. The three-week voting period closes at noon on Saturday, February 17.
Polling places for the issuing of special voting documents and for receiving completed voting documents during the voting period are at Council’s main office, 42 Hokianga Road, Dargaville; and
Council’s Mangawhai Service Centre at The Hub, Mangawhai. Alternatively, they can be requested by phoning 0800 922 822.
Preliminary results will be available soon after the close of voting on by-election day and the final results, including approved special votes, will be available on February 19. Results will be published on Council’s website kaipara.govt.nz.
The candidates are Brian McEwing, Bruce Rogan, Christian Simon, Jason Smith, Stephen Soole, Jay Tane, Peter Wethey and Craig Woollam.
