On the 9^th of May the Whangarei District Councillor, decided on what needed to be included within the 2019/20 Annual Plan.  An additional motion was moved by Cr. Vince Cocurullo that $50k be added to the well needed CCTV camera budget, after a request coming from one of the ratepayers during submissions and after checking information with Whangarei’s CitySafe team and the local businesses, yet the Mayor and some councillors did not feel it was needed.

I’m not a footballer by any means, yet it is almost the last event in Whangarei for the under 20 FIFA tournament, and now is a chance to reflect and ask what has happened since a FIFA game was first played here on May 30 – and a FIFA scandal shocked the world.

As this is Queens Birthday weekend, my thoughts come back to NZ and money that is being spent on a new flag, and why we NZers are so keen to spend it on just that.

Whether you have been in the armed forces, or travelled around the world on your big OE, or competed for your country in the world sporting arena, you tend to understand the importance of a country’s flag and the concerns you have when someone gets it wrong.

Rates * Whangarei District Council * Debt * Housing

Can our locals and our land defeat the debt devil? 

There are few strategies to tackle the debt of $2000 per capita in Whangarei. I’m not talking just ratepayers – I’m talking every man, woman and child in Whangarei, where our council owes approximately $160m.

The Whangarei District Council debt problem

Whangarei * ratepayers * Vince * water rates

Every year, we property owners give the council around $2000 in rates, yet Council still has a whopping nine figure of debt – that’s $160 million. Divide that by the 80,000 population of Whangarei, and each of us appears $2000 in the red.

We’re starting to see the wintery side of Northland again. Personally, in my household, wemake sure our gutters are clean, the trees are trimmed back, and thegrape vines pruned. Keeping warm and dry is a mission for all of us, and every time I leave the house I try to dress warmly and take a few Vitamin Cs.

What Winter Means For Whangarei