At present council is setting the rates which means spending
hour after hour analysing page after page of financial data.
It's tedious, frustrating and at times extremely
demoralising. The vast majority of councillors want to keep
the rate increase below 5% and that means cuts to the budget
will be required.
Yet people love their parks, sporting facilities, theatres,
libraries, museums and all the luxuries of a civilised urban
society.
As a council we want to exhibit confidence in our future, yet
we must accept that unemployment is rising and the recession
is not entirely over.
The debate over the three bin system is ongoing and
regardless of the outcome, a robust debate does encourage
people to think about how we should best deal with our
rubbish.
There was great news regarding a Living Cell Technology grant
of $4 million. It's great to see an innovative Government at
work that recognises the significant export potential of the
bio-tech industry.
I would also like to publicly welcome all the SIT students
that are flooding back into the city. The streets seem far
more busy and the cafes more vibrant.
This week I had the pleasure of hosting a BBC film crew that
are making a travel doco‑drama which involves a large segment
on Southland. Fortunately we had good weather and the South
looked brilliant.
I'm certain that when this five hour programme goes to air,
Invercargill will get the lion's share of positive publicity.
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