West Coast ratepayer pressure worries
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Worry has been expressed at the West Coast Regional Council table about more pressure coming on to ratepayers due to the lack of income.
The matter was raised by councillor Peter Haddock, who referred to comments made by chief executive Heather Mabin at their inaugural meeting last month, where she informed councillors that the resource management committee had no assets to generate an income stream from.
Haddock said the council had its Vector Control Services business unit, which apparently earned up to $500,000 a year, based on previous reports and projections.
There were also the council quarries which had previously generated revenue from commercial sales.
Having that income in the next few years would be crucial given the council's commitments and "the impact on our ratepayers if not", he said.
"My concern is if we're losing the income streams, our ratepayers will have to foot the bill."
Mabin said she had been referring to infrastructure.
While VCS and the quarries did generate income, how those ventures were structured and contributed income to the council was under review.
VCS would be brought to the next meeting of the council's Risk and Assurance Committee.
"There has been a request by council to revisit how we allocate overheads because it was evident that this particular unit was not allocated overheads as for the rest of the council," Mabin said.
The findings of that review would be "very enlightening" in terms of future viability.
The quarry operations review was started earlier in the year.
"I was incorrect in that I didn't reference the quarries," Mabin said of her earlier comments.
Councillor Frank Dooley requested a background paper on the quarry income by the next meeting.
Not having made a decision on the sale of rock was one thing, but the use of council quarried rock for public infrastructure projects needed to have the value of that rock built into the capital expenditure tally for those projects, Dooley said.
Mabin said the rock for projects was capitalised but it was “just how it was accounted for” that was being worked through.
Three areas needed to be addressed in any future report, he said: income streams, the allocation of overheads, and the internal movement of quarry rock.
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.2% Summer
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36.4% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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