Our local council is in the process of removing the poor from this district.  “What?!” you say…

Apparently, the working class part of the community does not matter to the majority of Whangarei Councillors.  The Whangarei District Council, like the Auckland Council, are planning to enforce a 9% increase in the rates.  Along with the increase by the Northland Regional Council, this will bring some increases of rates to 15%.

When the median wage is at $22,500 for Whangarei, a young, small family will soon not be able to pay the rates of the district, and forget about it if you own a small business.  The Whangarei District Council is excusing all this by saying “the people want more services, therefore we need to put the rates up”.  However, what extra services are the people of Whangarei getting?

Rubbish: we are now paying for this, both in rubbish bags and within our rates. If you are a CBD business, you have to pay five times the amount of rates and still no recycling is collected from you for free. Did you know that today, July 1, rubbish bag prices have gone up?

When will the councils learn that money doesn’t grow on trees? Are they just interested in the wealthy? Whangarei, like many Councils, was given the opportunity to raise rates by inflation only, however most decided to increase the rates more.  From what I can see the Northland community is trying to get a leg up, however our local councils look as though they are not interested in helping.