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

Council has been hearing written and verbal submissions to its annual/three year/10 year plan this week and by the time you read this elected members will have listened to around 130 submitters and read over 2,000 pages from some 700 submissions.

As noted previously this process is your chance to have your say. And contrary to a few naysayers it does make a difference. There has never been a budget struck that hasn't had major alterations as a result of your input. Not only from official submissions either.

One major issue that really concerns me, and probably other elected members, is consideration of the view of the rest of you (some 117,300 or so). A past councillor used to say that those who didn't submit must have all been in agreement. This is nonsense. So how do we pick up on the views of the 'silent majority”. It's a gut feel and awareness of what's going on. Glenn Campbell sang about it in a line from one of his songs – 'staying in touch with the street”. If elected members were to only take into consideration written and verbal submissions then the city would be being unduly influenced by a tiny majority of the community. A mini version of MMP?

Most elected members outlined their electoral intentions at election time and with the exception of a few who change with the wind to maintain electoral favouritism, as they perceive it, most elected members stay true to their electoral undertakings.

At the moment on council there is a slim majority to maintain financial austerity. This means making some hard calls that are likely to cause electoral fallout in some quarters. During submissions some submitters say they understand the ratepayer's plight and the financial dilemma council is in BUT their specific cause is the exception because of excellent reasons. Some elected members are still voting with their hearts instead of their heads and may succumb to those heart-warming pleas.

Just how this will fit with the proposal to cap rates increases to a CPI plus 2% limit will be a telling lesson to these people if/when their good intentions exceed the rates limit. What will happen then and what will get cut out? It's better to take the hard decisions now because the longer the inevitable is delayed the more costs rise.

Many submissions by a well organised campaign by the Friends of the Library to preserve the Mobile Library. Some misunderstanding is evident from submitters in that it was never intended to cut the Library budget but rather it was felt that the $250,000 Mobile Library budget would be better spent for the three libraries and an 'at home” service provided for those who are house bound.

Another well organised campaign against the possible sale of Soper Reserve in Newton Street adjacent to Brewers Bar. This reserve is used for concerts and other activities over the summer.

Badminton wants to build a specialised Badminton facility there but the petitioners oppose any building. Some very well thought out submissions from individual submitters on what councils should be doing and offer new ideas which will be worked through. Seriously. Some not so well thought out submissions too, but at least the submitters read the proposed plan statement and put down their thoughts. Plus a few abusive efforts – there are some sad people out there!

A sign in downtown Auckland by Priority One promoting Tauranga drew a chuckle. It read 'Tauranga is New Zealand's ultimate business location without dispute.” Promotion of Tauranga is part of Priority One's function and included in their submission. They are part funded by Tauranga City, Western Bay, and members from the business sector.

Tauranga Safe City, a Government funded initiative, came seeking $20,000 from ratepayers to continue. In a familiar pattern, after getting the initiative working the Government is pulling the funding pin. Tauranga is an accredited safe city, elected members were told. Merivale Community Centre is another organisation likely to suffer from a $100,000 Government funding cut. In their submissions they floated the idea of a target rate on all Merivale houses of $50 each. Waikato based Opus Orchestra Trust is seeking $8,000 from Tauranga ratepayers. I asked why their budget showed only 20% for ticket sales. The answer was that that was all people would pay and that everywhere else orchestras were heavily subsidised.

We have a similar problem with TECT Park funding. It's closer to Rotorua than Tauranga and Rotorua residents use it but the Rotorua Council so far isn't contributing. I'm off to speak to them next week during their submission process. Any funding they did make would be in addition to existing budgets and would speed up essential infrastructure installation.

Plenty of submissions on road surfacing with a majority favouring 'like for like” chip seal on chip seal and hot mix on hot mix. One submitter suggested the work be done on an as needed basis rather than on a replacement schedule. Sometimes the damage is underneath and by the time its visible the damage is much worse. Interesting to note most submissions came of the Summary newsletter posted to ratepayers and few had read the entire plan. For instance I think there can be millions saved by delaying and rethinking the ocean wastewater outfall extension and rebuild. There are others and the finished budget has a long way to go yet. Deliberations in a couple of weeks will tell the likely final outcome.

This week's mindbender from W.C. Field. 'Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.”