Walking the plank

First, before the squawking starts, let us be clear. LawsWatch thinks the Riverfront project looks lovely. We agree it's a desirable addition to the town. But, like the Splash Centre, we wonder just how we're going to afford it and we're concerned that people were induced to vote for it without having the foggiest idea how much it would actually cost.

Here's what the punters voted for in Referendumb 2005:

Central City waterfront development

Year 1 $130,000
Year 2 $130,000

Reconnecting the riverfront to the city will turn the Whanganui River's edge back into the thriving commercial hub it used to be and reinforce our arts, culture and heritage strengths.

And here's what Mickey wants to do now (as per his latest e-coli) and presumably without further consultation with said punters:

My preference? The $1.6 million alternative. Do it once, and do it right ...that's my view.

Not surprisingly, given the increasingly ovine behaviour of our elected "representatives" on Council, he's likely to get his way.

That's a cost escalation by a factor of over six in just one year. Would all the people who supported it, making it number two on the list, have done so if they were in possession of the actual costs rather than a grossly underestimated guess? Who knows? And that's the point.

Yet again, people supported something on the basis of one set of figures, and that project is now going ahead on the basis of a completely different set - with Mickey all the while claiming this is the "will of the people". It's no such thing. It's the will of Michael Laws and diVision, aided and abetted at every turn by their "independent" lackeys. And - right or wrong - they, and only they, will be responsible for the outcome, including the effect on Wanganui's net debt and any future impact on rates.

You can bet your last dollar - and it's almost getting to that - that any project which is a success will see the credit delivered solely to Mayor Michael Laws and his diVision council. While anything that turns to custard will have the blame placed elsewhere.

Council has already made the policy decision to fund the development from asset sales...

...says Mickey. Ahhh those assets... Who knew Wanganui had the real world equivalent of magic beans?! No matter how grandiose the spending plan, no matter whether the reality is six times the original budget, those beans will keep on growing in value till they pay for everything. And if they don't... well there'll be a Finance Manager or a valuer or perhaps even a CEO (are you listening, Dr Warburton?) on whom the blame can be heaped.

Or there's always central government. They're already being set up to cop it if Vision's spend-now-hope-we-can-pay-later plans go wrong. Mickey musters all the false umbrage he can to inform us that:

I would surmise that a good 2% of your projected 3% rate rise this year is due to increased responsibilities placed upon us by the Beehive.

It's not "our" rates increase, Mr Mayor. It's yours. We didn't ask for it. And if you'd reined in your spending, we might have avoided having to pay it. These unreasonable imposts include, he says:

...micro-chipping dogs, earthquake-proofing buildings or paying six figure sums to the Audit Office to run the ruler over our draft LTCCPs...

Tsk, how unreasonable of central government to expect councils to be subject to audit when their estimates are only out by a mere $1.3 million or so. Per project.

But that's not the point (lest we fall for one of Mickey's red herrings and start debating the correctness or otherwise of central-to-local government, and vice-versa, cost-shifting). The point actually is, that unless Wanganui can do something about these rising costs, they have to be factored into the budget and - to use the Diva's own terminology - the town's cloth must be cut to suit.

Like the family facing the rising cost of petrol prices, we can moan about the injustice of it, blame big oil and greedy government taxes, and generally rail against our misfortune. We might even be right. But regardless, we're going to have to make fewer trips to the fast food joint and waterslide heaven, wait to see that new movie on DVD, and generally scale back our expenditure. Not put in a new backyard pool, re-lay the garden path, and hope the garage sale will pay for it.

And certainly not obtain the agreement of our significant other to take on the cost of such project by telling him or her fibs about the actual cost.

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