More Paihia Politics

Paihia Community Council (continued)

Over the next few years we worked on three developments: rating, planning and sewerage system. 

When the time came for the striking of the annual rates (the County Council let us do this ourselves) we wanted to make sure that the people who used the services paid for them.  Being a tourist town, Paihia has to provide amenities for tourists, which few of the locals need. 

We found our answer in differential rating, which had recently been approved by Parliament.  When I had been in Wellington at a PPTA Conference in the preceding months, I called in to the Local Government Department and talked to the gentleman there about the differential rating rules.  He said if we wanted to, we could charge a different rate for houses with red rooves, and another for houses with green rooves, and so on. 

So I did some research and some trial runs and eventually came up with a proposal that accommodation businesses should pay twice the rates of residential properties, while other businesses should pay 150% of the residential rate. We discussed this in the council, on the basis that this would reflect the usage of the tourist amenities, because tourists were the ones who used the motels, while we all shared the shops. 

The proposal was approved by the Community Council and the County gave it the rubber stamp. Some residential ratepayers found themselves with a lower rates bill; the commercial people were reasonably happy to carry their share and the residents were delighted. 

The time came round for the review of the district scheme under the town planning legislation. So we prpared a series of objections and cross-objections to the planning proposals for Paihia, and submitted them. We appeared before the Planning Committee, which was chaired by Sir James Henare, and, as is common in such cases, we had around half of our proposals accepted. 

(Sir James was the last Colonel of the Maori Battalion in 1945; he was mentioned in a programme on Anzac Day on Maori TV about commanders of the battalion.)

By this time I was attending the County Council meetings each month; chairs of community councils were allowed to attend and speak but not, of course, to vote. I rarely spoke unless asked, preferring to defer to the local County Council member, who was our old colleague, Les Eden. But I chatted with the members over lunch and this kept us in the loop of council affairs. I particularly enjoyed getting to know Jim Henare.