Planting Day by Waikato River - Group shot

Planting Day by Waikato River - Instructions

Planting Day by Waikato River - Jane

• On July 5th a Yahoo online poll asked: ”do you support the ETS?“

Of 10,512 voters 10% or 1,051 voters agreed: “yes, its for the good of the planet”.

90% or 9,461 disagreed saying: ‘no it passes cost on to people who can least afford it“.

Please let us know your views.

Everybody has a different view on where council should spend money, how much money should be spent, and which biodiversity issue is the most important. We all agree it’s in the best interest of New Zealand to enhance and protect biodiversity and maintain effective pest control schemes to control TB and introduced pests such as possums, stoats, rats, wild cats, etc.

Canada Goose & Goslings

As a result of education and science, we see more  issues continually arising  - Koi carp and Canada Geese are two newer arrivals to the list of pests.

One needs to consider the diverse views amongst farmers, ACRE members, Fish & Bird members and conservationists. All have different and, in their mind, the most pressing items on their agenda.

My view is that council needs to determine which measures are cost effective and will achieve the set goals for our region.   It needs to ensure that the measures taken are really what the ratepayer wants and is willing to pay for.  Once that is determined  – then council should prioritise and take action accordingly.

New Zealand's Vast Biodiversity Needs TLC

‘The Government today set out four themes for its proposed changes to pest management over the next 25 years.

Biosecurity Minister David Carter called for submissions on a “national plan of action” on pest management, with changes proposed for clear roles and accountabilities, improved and simplified processes, better tools and more collective work.

Pests cost the primary production nearly $1.9 billion a year — $1.15b in lost production and $719m in directly trying to prevent pest incursions and managing them once they established. There are also additional environmental, social, cultural and economic costs.

Mr Carter, releasing a discussion paper for public comment by July 23, said the Government wanted to ensure pest management strategies limited these costs.

The plan would help drive a new national policy direction to be announced next year…’

Read more…
This news story courtesy of YahooXtra News.

We win!

Hamilton Citizens and Ratepayers Association, Hamilton Grey Power, and Waikato Federated Farmers Executive have renewed their endorsement of the Rates Control councillors and support the team’s pledge  to keep rate increases to the CPI .  Council will spend the same amount as the previous year but by keeping any increase low it means that cumulatively the rates remain realistic.  In the 4 years prior to the election of the Rates Control councillors, EW’s rates increased 79% – an average of almost 20% pa.  The EW rate increase for 2010/11 is 1.92%,  and our team is pleased to have influenced this result.

Jane

The Rates Control Team exists to act as a voice for all of the region’s  EW ratepayers  and promotes affordable and sustainable management of our precious environment.  In the past double digit  rate rises was the norm. Our team is committed to keeping them at the CPI (inflation).
On this site I hope to post comments, news and views that will be of help and interest to all ratepayers and particularly those in my ward.   Please bookmark my blog and visit often.   I will try to keep it fresh and interesting, challenging and informative.  It would be great if you could click the RSS/Atom feed so that as soon as I post an article it will be emailed to you.  You can also join my email list -all email addresses will be kept private and only ever used for advising you of updates and news concerning the Rates Control Team and my role as an elected Councillor for Environment Waikato.

Finally, please comment, as often as you feel inclined -I am interested in your views and I do need to know them in order to best serve our mutual interests.  Just click the ‘Comment’ button/link on each post and tell me what you think.
In all our best interests,
Jane Hennebry
Councillor,
Environment Waikato