This election advertorial is published by commercial arrangement.
We feel that regardless of how we vote, the same old stuff keeps happening. Endless decisions we don't understand.
We feel that even if we do vote, nothing will change.
That's where me being just an ordinary, everyday Kiwi grunt comes into it. I decided to run for Council because I love explaining stuff and offering some honest, balanced feedback on it. People have resonated with the way I can break complex Council speak down into something us non-bereaucrats can actually understand.
There's plenty of videos on my Facebook page (ChrisD4ICC) explaining a lot of what's going on - or not going on, as the case may be! I've covered everything from the proposed changes to our rubbish bins to why we're not being proactive about the burnt out Briscoes building to how we missed a massive opportunity by getting that $2.2 million CCTV project to pay for itself.
I feel that communication is half the problem with why we feel disenfranchised with the Invercargill City Council. The other half is we don't get why they make the decisions they make.
All of this is easily fixed, and is exactly what I set out to do and intend to keep doing, regardless of whether I'm elected to the Invercargill City Council or not. We need someone who can front up, break it down and help you make an informed decision on what's going on.
One thing that's going on that I think has not been explained particularly well is the astronomical water bills coming our way in 2027. As part of central Government's 3 Waters reform, we have to completely seperate rates and water bills. Those water bills also have to cover the cost of the entire 3 Waters operation, on a not for profit basis.
At the moment, a household will pay $520 per annum for water as part of its rates bill, but 3 Waters is also subsidized by the general rate. Once that stops in 2027, your rates bill will go down (in theory, anyway) while your water bill will go up. And up. And up. It's proposed to increase $150 every year for seven years, so in 2034 we'll be paying over $3,000 per annum for water.
While Council may say this has all been put out there in the Annual Plans and Long Term Plans, were you aware of this massive increase? Probably not, because it hasn't really been highlighted very well by the Council. It also hasn't been pointed out that this is nationwide, so there's no escaping it by moving somewhere else!
The worst part is that Council - if they were promoting this little massive issue - should be pointing out we have never gotten a say in the matter. 3 Waters reform is mandated and there's no opting out. Even worse, we blame Council for the likes of this years 7.2% rates increase, but did Council effectively communicate half of that increase was simply to pay for central Governments reforms?
If we're ever going to change the ratepayers opinion of the Council, we need to engage people and hopefully turn around our ever declining voter turnout. We need far more effective communication to do that, and I hope you'll take the time to check out some of my videos and say to yourself, hey this guy gets it, and now I do too. Vote Chris Dawson for Invercargill City Council.
Authorised by agent Chris Dawson: [email protected]