Pensioners will be the strugglers

Let me start with some quotes from a couple of councillors in The Beacon (Wednesday, August 7).

Councillor Nándor Tánczos stated: “As councillors, we have to take a long-term view of the health and wellbeing of our community”.

Councillor Julie Jukes added: “keep the rates as low as possible while still having a district that people want to come and live in”.

Yes, that would work if New Zealand was the same sophisticated society as a Scandinavian one, or one of the little EU countries where state superannuation exceeds the New Zealand one by more than 50 percent. (For the fact checkers, see The Netherlands as an example: www.svb.nl/en/aow-pension/aow-pension-rates/aow-pension-rates#section_00)

People on fixed incomes such as New Zealand Superannuation can’t absorb those rate increases Whakatāne District Council has adopted.

Those pensioners have by far the lowest benefits of the implemented tax rebates from the new coalition Government at $4.30 for a single and $8.60 for a couple each fortnight.

The rate increases exceed those by a country mile and increase their cost of living massively.

How about when a councillor refers to “wellbeing of our community” and it affects a certain group disproportionately?

According to research from Massey University, published in June 2023, a retired couple needed $850, after tax, a week to live with a no-frills budget in a provincial town like ours.

In the meantime, 4 percent general inflation, a 15 percent WDC rate rise and about 20 percent increase in insurance costs have taken a considerable chunk out of that no-frills budget.

Superannuation will not cover that anymore, and it is a fact that a large portion of pensioners don’t have any additional savings.

But the council will point out that you can apply for rate rebates like everybody on a low income.

For a single person household on NZ Super only, or even with some small additional income, this could work out.

The threshold for a maximum rebate starts with a gross household income of $38,000 or lower a year. For couples, this is a different story.

A couple receives $48,000 a year as NZ Super and at that level you already need to pay at least $3500 on rates to qualify for any rebates.

If a couple earns an additional $16,000 on top of their NZ Super, they qualify for nothing. And remember, these are gross income numbers.

But regardless of what is written above, I want to encourage everybody to apply for a rate rebate if their annual income is $62,000 and lower.

You may be eligible if you are the legal ratepayer for your property, your property was your place of residence on July 1, 2024 and your property is not used principally for commercial purposes like running a hair salon from your home or other industrial, business or farming purposes.

You need to apply for your rates rebate between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. You can do it online through: www.govt.nz/rates-rebates or pick up an application form from the WDC customer service desk.

Peter Minten

On behalf of the Whakatāne Grey Power Association

Responsibility required

I BELIEVE Geoff Bradly and Catrina Jones (Beacon letters, August 9) described the council meeting to adopt the long-term plan very well and I thank them for their attention to the subject.

The mayor and Gavin Dennis were the only two councillors to vote against the adoption of the plan with its stated rate rises.

There can be no doubt regarding the intellect and integrity of the mayor, and in my opinion, Mr Dennis is proving to be a councillor who takes his responsibilities as a councillor very seriously, and is not prepared to be suppressed by the dominant position of council management.

So, what does it mean that these are the only two councillors to vote against adopting the LTP with its unpopular rate rise?

Is it because they are two councillors who understand the motivation influencing council management spending and are not prepared to accept the extravagant results of it.

The structure of district councils is such that the senior executive office (chief executive) makes the decisions that determine the cost of having and running a district council.

For some time, a predominance of letters to the Beacon have expressed concern regarding items of Whakatāne District Council expenditure.

The concerns expressed have been about wasteful council spending that would seem to be more about enhancing council status than the needs of the ratepayers, who are paying for it.

The appointment of the next council chief executive will be interesting.

John Mackintosh

Leadership needed

If anything tells me that Dr Victor Luca is not suited to being the mayor, it is that he protest-voted against his own long-term plan.

The mayor is supposed to lead the council and lead the plan.

There has been plenty of time for him and the other councillors to find ways to reduce rates more than what they already did.

If he couldn’t do that, he needed to man-up instead of grandstanding and leaving the rest of the councillors to carry the can.

Luckily, there were others in the room to make a decision and get on with it.

J Beattie

Weka caught in gintrap?

Everyday, Mr Weka strutted around my lawn and garden, finding all the snails and slugs, I guess. Such a cocky fellow foraging within a metre from where I’d be working.

He considered me his friend and surprised me daily with his sudden appearances.

Quite amazing the amount of nitrogenous manure he provided for my green vege garden.

Today, I saw this round brown heap of feathers on my lawn and upon investigating discovered it was Mr Weka in a very sad state. His eyes were opening and shutting. He got up, tried to walk, fell over, and tried again.

One whole foot and ankle was missing and his happy fearless bold life was over.

Was it a gintrap that cut off his foot and left him to suffer? I think so.

We must make sure no gintraps are set.

Chris Morpeth

Whose land will be degraded?

Alexander Milne’s letter to the editor “Minister responds to letter on boat harbour” (Beacon, Friday, August 9)contained a transcript of Minister for Regional Development Shane Jones’s reply.

Mr Jones’s reply included the names of the entities that are involved in the boat harbour development.

These entities include Te Rāhui Herenga Waka Whakatāne Ltd. Shareholders of Te Rahui Herenga Waka Whakatāne Ltd are Whakatāne District Council, Crown Regional Holdings Ltd (shareholders; Minister of Finance and Minister for Regional Development) and Te Rāhui Lands Limited Partnership.

The shareholders of Te Rāhui Lands Limited Partnership are Brian Watson Whanake Simpson, Whakatāne; Charles Alexander Bluett, Whakatāne; Sharleen Tumanako Simpson Almond, Kawerau; Lorraine Francis Te Arani Barrett, Whakatāne; and Dayle Evelyn Hunia, Whakatane.

Mr Jones’ letter advises that “contamination at the site is more complex and extensive than what was originally expected” but “the Te Rāhui Herenga Waka board is being advised by a highly qualified expert consultant”.

Can representatives of the Te Rahui Herenga Waka Whakatāne shareholders please advise where the expert consultant’s report that recommends continuing with the decontamination of the boat harbour site can be accessed by Whakatāne district ratepayers.

Mr Jones states that by “removing the contaminated material, “Te Rāhui’s land will be restored and will become more productive”.

Whose land will be degraded and will become less productive by becoming the dump site for Te Rāhui’s contaminated soil?

Steve Clark

An open email to Shane Jones …

You have been reported responding to Sandy Milne in the Beacon that you have the utmost faith in the experts advising you on the Te Rahui Herenga Boat Park.

The expert engineers will no doubt have an engineering solution to the contamination issue and construction of the marina. However, what you don’t appear to have is expert guidance on matters of finance, hydrology and navigation.

Nowhere on the Te Rāhui or Kanoa websites are expert reports on these matters mentioned.

* Finance: Mr Jones where is the expert finance report, detailing ongoing revenue and expenses and financial assumptions?

Back of the envelope calculation, 60 berths at an average BOP rental for 15 metre berths would raise between $600-700,000 plus GST per annum. Travel lift fees, let’s be generous, 500 hours at $300 an hour.

From this, deduct interest on the Whakatane District Council – Harbour Endowment Loan at the IRD non-FBT rate of 8 percent per annum, that $800,000 per annum, deduct land owners lease, operating expenses, marina manager’s salary, maintenance and, most important, the cost of keeping the channel open to and including marina basin sedimentation.

Who knows how much is budgeted for this? After these expenses, there is unlikely any surplus after assuming full take up of the marina’s 60 berths.

There is, of course, another possibility, that it is not intended that the loan from the council’s via the Harbour Endowment Fund be repaid, interest or capital. The legality of the loan itself is questionable but that’s another story.

* Navigation: I understand very few existing berth users on the river are willing to commit and some are unhappy at the prospect of being forced to move to Te Rāhui.

What happens if the boat park is not fully leased? What is the budgeted cost of keeping the channel open and who has agreed to meet this liability?

The travel lift will have a capacity of 80 tonnes, one of the biggest in the North Island, but will the channel depth required for such large vessels be sufficient? How deep will the channel be, or will it only be usable one to two hours either side of high tide? This will restrict the revenue potential of the travel lift.

* Hydrology:  The Whakatāne awa is prone to flooding and carries a high sediment load. We are told to expect more extreme weather events. Has this been modelled into the budget?

The channel will need regular dredging after weather events; the Whakatāne Yacht Club basin experiences this regularly.

Where is the expert advice coming from in respect to these fundamental issues that gives you such faith in this project, Mr Jones, and who will pay the ongoing costs if the project is not successful?

Will it be the council, or central Government or perhaps from your parliamentary pension, Mr Jones?

Graeme Tee

Dumping of toxic waste continues

Thank you, Paul Jamieson (“Race need not play a part” Beacon, August 14), for that rather uncomfortable reminder of the nefarious actions of our so-called forefathers.

Lest those of you who might be tempted to view these actions as a “one off” or aberration, I suggest that, in my experience, it was definitely not the case.

As a child growing up in Wairaka, my cousins and I played in the foul smelling, bright orange sawdust and waste wood, some with nails and wire still attached, that miraculously appeared one day on our doorstep.

I will never forget that smell. So, they covered it up, planted grass and trees that struggled to grow and named it, somewhat euphemistically, “Mataatua Reserve” Aue, te mamae ... The relentless dumping of toxic waste in our rohe continued unabated during the 50s and 60s, primarily within our Māori communities, with our Hokowhitu cousins bearing the brunt, then and now.

So, to all you aggrieved keyboard worriers out there, ponder this: Do your research, try to imagine your mokopuna not only playing in toxic waste, but moreover, having to live with the consequences many generations later.

No, wait, this can’t happen, not with a level playing field, right?

Sue Fenton

NZ forestry and value adding

You would have to be blind Freddy to not notice abundant pine plantations and fleets of huge trucks carting logs around our countryside.

The timber industry is clearly alive and well in Aotearoa. Pinus radiata grows quickly in New Zealand and forestry is our third-largest export earner, bringing in $5 billion a year.

However, what you won’t see much of as you drive around the country are buildings and structures constructed from engineered lumber or, for that matter, any sophisticated use of wood fibre.

In our area, the logging trucks you see are typically bound for the Port of Tauranga, where the logs are loaded onto ships that are usually bound for China. However, aside from shipping whole logs to China for the fabrication of pallets and boxing for cement forming, relatively little value-adding is undertaken here. There is, however, lots we could be doing to add value to one of the most common building materials known to man.

Wood is composed of cellulose (a natural polymer) fibres embedded in a matrix of lignin. There are many more sophisticated uses for wood and cellulose fibres than simply shipping unprocessed logs to China.

As an example, cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a prefabricated, engineered solid wood panel made of layers of dimensional lumber that is rapidly gaining in popularity.

The lumber is stacked crosswise at right angles, glued, and then pressed into place. CLT has many advantages, such as having half the carbon footprint of concrete and steel construction. CLT also has good energy efficiency and noise performance, dimensional stability, easthetics, good acoustic performance and so on.

At the forthcoming Grey Power general meeting to be held on Wednesday, August 21, Peter Minten will speak about current economic value creation from plantation forests.

Which part of the tree is used for which product manufacturing for domestic and export customers.

Peter has been involved in the pulp and paper industry since 1987, first in The Netherlands and then at Norske Skog in Kawerau until the mill’s closure in 2021.

The meeting kicks off at 10am in the Presbyterian Church Hall on 83A Domain Road. All are welcome.

Victor Luca, president of Whakatāne District Grey Power Association

Personal agendas hinder collaboration

I was disappointed that only Mayor Victor Luca and Gavin Dennis voted “no”  to the long-term plan at a recent meeting – proving their concern at rising rates.

I voted for Mr Luca as mayor in the last election because I considered he would lead with integrity and intelligence, and take our council thoughtfully to responsible investments with open honesty.

I voted for council candidates that I believed would work as a team under this leadership and hoped  they would listen to their communites’ calls for change and stability.

Sadly, it appears that our councillors are not listening to us or the leader we chose for them to support.

Instead, our council is fragmented by the personal agendas of each of the members, who are not collaborating as a team for their commuity of ratepayers.

I know this because only one councillor supported our mayor in his stand for lower rates.

All the other councillors appear not to care that we are hurting in this time of inflation and economic uncertainty.

Raewyn Kingsley Smith