Have your say on rates, rubbish and pensioner housing
Feedback opens today on Waikato District Council’s consultation document as it looks to prepare the 2021-31 Long Term Plan, which is the district’s plan of attack for the next 10 years.
Feedback can be submitted online (link below), at the drop in session at Te Kowhai Hall on Thursday 22 April 6.30pm-8pm, at Council offices or libraries, or by phoning Council on 0800 492 452.
The plan, which is reviewed and updated every three years, is asking three key questions:
1. what general rate increase option you prefer
2. should Council sell their pensioner housing and
3. should Council continue our inorganic curbside rubbish collection service.
At the same time, Council also asking for feedback on the way they hand out funding, user fees and charges, their development contributions policy and the community hall catchment review.
More detail:
Council are currently proposing a “hard and fast” general rate increase in year 1 of 9% and then 3.5% for year 2 and 3 of the plan. Another option sets the general rate increase at 7% in year 1, 6% in year 2 and 4% in year 3.
The inorganic curbside rubbish collection service has been popular in the Waikato district for a long time, but it is becoming harder and harder to provide this service.
Council have 34 pensioner flats in Tuakau, Huntly and Ngaruawahia. They are proposing to sell these to a dedicated social housing provider.
shape.waikatodistrict.govt.nz...
⚠️ 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?
-
61.8% Summer
-
36.5% Winter
-
1.7% Other - I'll share below
Have you seen fisheries officers out and about?
Dumping your illicit catch then fleeing fisheries officers is about the worst thing you can do this summer and one group in Raglan found this out the hard way.
They were picked up as authorities ramp up their compliance work at boatramps across the region to make sure fishers are sticking to the rules. While most do - some even have their own sustainability codes - others do not.
Have you seen fisheries officers out and about? Tell us your reasons in the comments (adding NFP if you don't want your words used in print).
Loading…
