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Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis has been called out again, after using inaccurate figures and telling a member of the public who questioned him to "stop being a prat".
Cr Vandervis took to social media on Wednesday night to highlight council debt, including that of its companies, which is now forecast to hit almost $1billion by 2022.
The debt picture, which was documented in council reports, had been raised by Cr Vandervis at Tuesday's council meeting and reported by the ODT on Wednesday.
On Wednesday night, Cr Vandervis said in a social media post debt would be a legacy of the "Cull Council".
Cr Vandervis - who is yet to confirm if he will seek the mayoralty again this year - went on to outline a series of his own initiatives, ranging from selling Aurora to reduce debt to cutting council staff numbers and freeing up land for housing.
But he raised eyebrows for some when he went further, criticising plans for a "$60million George St cycleway" and rising council staff numbers, which he claimed had "doubled" under Mayor Dave Cull.
Council information showed staff numbers had dropped from 680 full-time equivalent (FTE) roles, or 1043 employees, since Mr Cull took office in 2010, to a low of 644 FTEs (977 staff) in 2013-14.
Since then it had climbed again most years, reaching 748 FTEs (1019 staff) this year - an increase of about 10% on 2010 figures.
Council transport group manager Richard Saunders, contacted yesterday, also rejected Cr Vandervis' description of the George St project as a "cycleway".
The council had allocated $60 million to its central city plan over the next 10 years, but that included above-ground street improvements at three locations - along parts of George St, Princes St and lower Stuart St.
The George St component represented $28 million of the total cost, but covered "many components", including safety and public amenity improvements.
The single southbound vehicle lane envisaged for George St would include space for an on-street cycle/scooter lane, but it was not a separated cycleway and would come at little extra cost, Mr Saunders said.
"It is not a cycleway project," he said.
But, challenged by a member of the public online about his information, Cr Vandervis responded by telling them to "stop being a prat".
"Every point on the graph is source indexed. Get your lazy finger in to the DCC website and find all the other details you want," Cr Vandervis wrote.
The councillor did not respond to a request for comment yesterday, but council planning and environment committee chairman Cr David Benson-Pope said his comments were "unnecessary" and wrong.