Issue #987

by Jeff Hylton - long-time local

There’s been a lot of chat lately, about how badly councils across NZ manage finances.

I’ve been considering this and have concluded that our council, Queenstown Lakes District Council, is run by some seriously overpaid and underqualified people who can only make the “business of QLDC” work because money is provided by the ratepayer, who cannot escape the responsibility to keep bailing it out. The increases in rates each year are so far above inflation markers that in the real world this business would go into liquidation.

Let me put things into perspective. To pay the salary of the CEO, the mayor and councillors and all the other office workers, takes the entire rate take from Arthurs Point.

That is a lot of houses and people paying their rates, who think their money is going to sewerage plants, water and roading. But nope, just paying the wages. The CEO gets more than NZ’s prime minister. Food for thought.

They increase the rates to pay for projects that cost a ridiculous amount, with no consequences, as it’s not their money that’s being spent, it’s yours. This current talk of increasing the size of our little community into a city. Yay. The only people jumping for joy are builders and related providers, as this means more for them. More, more, more. Also, more rates for our council to waste, oh that’s right, if they run out there’s always you and me who they can tap into for, you guessed it, more.

Every time we hear of a new 1000-house subdivision, a silent groan goes out from the 95% of locals who spend many wasted hours in traffic chaos that can’t be fixed. The Wakatipu can’t physically fit four lane highways. The sewerage plant has well-documented problems and is only adequate for our current population and visitor numbers. And that’s after the current upgrades. No growth factored in.

The glee in the eyes of our mayor and local MP, when they talk of our newfound city status is not shared by the vast majority of voters and rate payers. Just stop and open your eyes. The ski mountains are at capacity. The car parks are full. The schools are full. The roads are congested. There are hundreds of empty holiday homes. Thousands of Airbnbs.

We are stuck with a rating system that we cannot change, at least not overnight. And don’t even get me started on Otago Regional Council, a fully redundant, overimportant and impossibly useless organisation that also charges what it wants. No wonder people eventually move away when it costs more to live in their own home here, than rent elsewhere.

But then I’m not complaining, just venting. I love it here but wish the people we voted in would stop and take a deep breath for say, 20 years, and let the district catch up with what’s been forced upon us.