Cr Bill Faulkner Faulkners Corner www.sunlive.co.nz

As mentioned in last week's column, council confirmed next financial year's annual plan on a vote of 10-1 and the rating requirement to provide the money to pay for it all on a vote of 9-2.

Catherine Stewart said she was unable to support the annual plan as she thought there hadn't been enough time to fully consider and debate the issues. Council commenced the annual plan process on December 8 last year. Rick Curach supported the acceptance of the annual plan but said he was unable to support the rating resolution which is the process that provides the money supply to pay for the annual plan. He joined Catherine in voting against it.

All for one, but not for all

There is a resolution devised by me and Mayor Stuart Crosby a few years ago which notes that not all elected members supported everything in the annual plan, but by majority vote the annual plan had been approved and was therefore endorsed by council. This resolution acknowledges that individuals had the right to disagree, but the majority view always prevails and to have the city function there must be money supply. The consequences of no annual plan and money supply would be that in short order the city would cease to function. No water, sewerage, road maintenance, parks, reserves, libraries, aquatics, stormwater and so on.

Not a great start

We're off to a rocky financial start already for next year with Mayor Stuart Crosby advising council that council's insurance premiums have skyrocketed by $470,000 for next year after the Christchurch earthquakes and this had not been forecast nor allowed for in the budgets.

Apples and oranges?

I moved an additional resolution requesting staff to ensure that when the rates bills went out that there were distinct differences that made it crystal clear that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council rates are a separate rate for a separate council that Tauranga City collects on its behalf. We get around $300,000 for this service from the regional council, but unfortunately we also get the blame for their rates from some people who just look at the bottom line on their rates bill. Unbelievably there are still some out there who do not understand that the regional council is a separate entity. This is born from comments made by some in the public about a recent $7200 trip the regional council took to Christchurch for their past CEO's inauguration to his new job in Canterbury.

‘Typical of TCC' ‘TCC wastage' are the theme of these comments and Murray Guy says it has also been mentioned to him.

A dog and its bone

Elected members also highlighted that regional council rates were heavily subsidised by Port company profits, which more properly should be invested in Tauranga infrastructure, like roads, which are significantly affected by the Port of Tauranga operation.

We decided that we need to approach central government independently to address matters like this through legislation as well as addressing the unsustainability of the present rating system.

Tauranga city is well versed in leading matters with central government as our growth has forced matters like the harbour bridge and its approaches into left field.

Had council waited for government support over the past 25 years, Tauranga would not be anything like the great city it is today.

Building workshops

On other fronts, council is in informal discussions with developers in open workshops to address the matter of how to help stimulate the development and building industries out of this economic downturn. Unfortunately, daily media attendance at these (and other meetings) is irregular so the whole story is not being fully and accurately reported to you. SunLive is probably your best bet for updates as this happens. As it's work-shopped, no decisions are made, but it is a major positive step forward that we can all (developers, elected members and staff) sit in the same room and have a full, free and frank discussion. Something like around 37 percent of industry in Tauranga revolves around building and development in the heyday and if it's possible for some facilitation and assistance from council to stimulate and encourage then we should do it.

Under the radar

At Airport Committee the accounts showed that this year's surplus will likely be up on budget and at end of May was $1.3m compared to budget of $1.1 million.

This very successful council operation flies below the media radar (pun intended) probably because of its success. It receives no rate funding and all surplus is invested in ongoing improvement, debt servicing and debt repayment. It is run by a small dedicated and extremely efficient staff and a committee of three elected members and three from the private sector with an aviation background. It's a great model for other council activities judging by the results. Hamilton and Rotorua airports are not in the same happy positions – probably brought on by their delving into international services.

Happy reading

At projects and monitoring committee, staff said that the books were likely to balance on June 30, the end of council's financial year – good news with all the fine financial juggling during the past year.

eBooks, the new phenomenon in reading, are being trialled at the library. According to staff e(or electronic)Book readers cost between $200 and $1000 and cost to download a book $17. This, or $29 for an average print book in the library. Elected members were surprised to learn that this was being trialled without their knowledge. It was felt that eBooks should be left to the private sector.

TECT Arena at Baypark is nearing completion and will go through some open phase testing before an official opening on September 3.

This week's mindbender:

If you dial a wrong number you never get a busy signal and someone always answers!