New Town Halls, Libraries & Other 'Ego Projects' Coming Before the Basics . . . & the Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost

In a stunning and timely demonstration of Masterton District Councillor, Tim Nelson's, wake-up call  to local bodies in my July 24 The Customer  article, coverage has appeared this week on 1 News, revealing the fact that building development activity in Greytown and Martinborough LGAs has massively reduced . . . primarily due to the long-ignored maintenance needs of the two towns' wastewater infrastructure.

According to one of the pieces of 1 News coverage:

"Growth has ground to a halt in two South Wairarapa towns, with wastewater infrastructure problems putting a stop to new housing developments.

"Martinborough has not been able to connect any new builds to the sewerage network in about a year, and now neighbouring Greytown is in the same boat.

"The reason? The local wastewater plants are at capacity."

The Greytown plant - which has already been serving 500 people over its capacity - is thought not to have even be desludged for at least 30 years - or maybe, ever. No-one's sure.

The problems have, states the article, forced the hitting of the pause button on any and all new Greytown housing developments, although "those with consents already approved or in train will still go ahead".

Fewer Residents Means Fewer Ratepayers Sharing the Rates Load

Still quoting the article in question:

"Fewer homes mean fewer ratepayers to share the load, with only 7500 ratepayers across the district.

"Last year, South Wairarapa had the highest rates rise in the country at 20%, this year the average is close to 15%."

Meanwhile, on the Martinborough front, the article quotes one business owner as saying that, "There are people in town who are having to close their businesses because of the rates."

The article and its quotees point out the obvious (an "obvious" that - by my own observation - seems either not so obvious, or irrelevant to perhaps more well-heeled and less personally affected Councillors who are the ones charged with managing their LGAs for the benefit of ALL residents and ratepayers):

"The way to get our rates down is to increase our population. More people paying rates means the less the rates have to go up, right? Then, all of a sudden, you go, well we can't actually build any new houses to house the people who want to move here," opined one of the 1 News article's quotees.

PS:   Meantime, I'm still waiting for a response from the Masterton District Council Mayor, Gary Caffell, on the staff and councillor-specific expenditure related to LGNZ junketry.