Time Stands Still in Rodney

   IT IS now five years since John Law won the special elections of March, 2001, to become Rodney’s mayor.
   We expected a new era where Rodney would ‘get a life’, and all sorts of promises were made.
   Five years down the track it would appear that in many ways time has stood still.
   The overdue district plan of 2000 still isn’t finished.
   Nothing has happened with Penlink. The Hill St intersection and the Warkworth bypass planning have stood still. Completion of the Hibiscus sewerage scheme is two years behind schedule and millions over budget.

   Silverdale North, the promised flagship project that would yield 3000 new jobs, has been mothballed and is expected now to yield only 450 jobs in the foreseeable future.
   In the western ward water and sewerage infrastructure projects are still unresolved, the beginnings of passenger rail planning and the Muriwai park land exchange are in limbo.
   The election promises of a moratorium on buildings without permits and the promised marae have come to nothing.
   Most of the council’s 10 sewerage plants now need upgrading or are running on expired resource consents.

   Staff levels have risen from over 200 to over 400. The use of consultants is up and yet delays for building permits have increased. Rate levels have increased steadily each year.
   Perhaps the most significant issue is that council debt has climbed from about $40 million at the turn of the century to a projected figure for $206 million in 2006-07. This represents $15 million a year in interest to be paid from rates, which is $375 each for the average ratepayer.
   The new 10-year plan proposes to further raise rates and increase the debt level to $387 million, representing $29 million interest,  while  consolidating’ or