Alexander (Sandy) Milne

In his Mayoral Talk, “We’re in this together” (Beacon, November 21), Nandor Tanczos’ leading excuse for excessive rates rises is to blame central government for a “tsunami of legislative reform”.  

But that cost applies to every district council in the land.  

Published rates’ rises for all district councils show that Whakatāne District Council is one of the worst performers; 18th out of 78 councils nationwide.  

The rise of 17.1 percent will cost the average ratepayer, (including tenants) $12.40 extra every week.  

That may seem trivial to our mayor, who receives $135,000 remuneration a year, but it hurts many of my neighbours.

I know why we are amongst the hardest hit in the country; for years, too many of our past councillors, including Mr Tanczos, unwisely voted for costly projects which were not “nice-to-have” but ill-planned “bound-to-fail”, and did just that.

I would welcome an assurance, published in the Beacon, that Mr Tanczos will keep future rates rises at or below the predicted 2.3 percent to 2.7 percent.  

He should also cancel plans to appoint the extra 27 staff which big spending councillors approved, and former mayor Victor Luca succeeded in stalling.  

If our mayor ignores this well-meant advice, he will find that his “We’re in this together” message will backfire.