Alexander (Sandy) Milne

In his chart on Whakatāne District Council borrowings from 2011 to 2030 (Beacon, November 19), Philip Jacobs sets out clearly what many of us knew about the council’s overspending since 2023 when Victor Luca took over as mayor.  

But Mr Jacobs failed to mention that most of the rises were the result of decisions made by previous mayors and councils, and that Dr Luca had only one vote in council meetings and was blameless.  

Beacon readers who kept an eye on council overspending will remember that Dr Luca had strenuously and publicly opposed every unnecessary (or vanity) spending proposal prior to or since he became a councillor in 2019.  

As far as I can recall, Mayor Nandor Tanczos and three newly re-seated councillors approved or rammed through the million dollars kiddies pool fiasco, the $14 million Civic Centre earthquake strengthening con job, and the cancelled multi-million-dollar marina/(boat harbour) scheme.  These re-elected councillors did this despite opposition and advice from experts who were later publicly vindicated.

It is the opinion of myself and all my friends that Dr Luca’s loss to Mr Tanczos was partly because voters were misled into blaming him for the faults of others.

I raise this issue now because if ratepayers think the rates rises of 42 percent over three years will be followed by a rates rise pause, then they should think again.  

We should brace ourselves for what comes next under the new council leadership.  

For a start, Dr Luca had managed to stall the appointment of 25-plus extra council staff, which big spending councillors wanted, and which would/will cost ratepayers at least $2 million more every year …  We should all watch that space.  

I hope the Whakatāne Action Group (WAG) and Mr Jacobs continue their surveillance of our council’s use of ratepayer dollars.  These are tough times for many ratepayers.