Letters to Editor
Poor words
The Ōtorohanga mayor Rodney Dow communicated with great care and humanity to those affected by the recent flooding in the district. And wasn’t it good to see him on TV wearing a Haddad’s shirt.
However, he was quoted in the King Country News briefs the following week as telling his council that he’d had the Waitomo mayor “banging on about amalgamation”. This struck me as disrespectful to the neighbouring mayor – as it is a situation which is bound to have to be faced sometime in the foreseeable future.
Some of us remember the last round of district amalgamations which forced Te Awamutu and Cambridge to work together, yet strangely, the significantly smaller Waitomo and Ōtorohanga districts were not similarly linked. Those districts had no choice. So it may not be too wise for locals to view our neighbourhood’s suggestions too smugly. We are one of the very smallest districts, population wise, in New Zealand and a number of ratepayer costs are perhaps needlessly duplicated.
Waitomo had the second lowest rate increase in the country at two per cent while Otorohanga was at 10-plus per cent
Frances Rawlings
Te Kūiti
Letters to Editor
