Dear Editor
Where do our Rates go to?
Have you ever wondered if the Council was spending your rates wisely or even if you are getting value for money? Let me give you a for example, I live in Otonga Valley Road at the entrance to which we have a number of road signs, some of which have only recently gone up (12 months) due to road works on the temporary bridge.
Because the ground is quite hard, the workers involved with putting the signs in went into the ground about a spade blade depth, approx. 30cm. Well, as you can imagine, a stiff breeze in the right direction and over they go and wind is not the only problem, there are people who like pulling out signs and throwing them down the bank. I have reported this signage problem to the Council on numerous occasions and all the worker has done is put the sign back in the old hole, which is gradually filling up, and walking away.
These revisits are costing money and if the job had been done properly in the first place… need I say more? So, to prevent further expenditure to you the ratepayer I have been told, by the Council, that the signs will be removed. We will now no longer have a sign warning motorists of children walking on the road because we have no footpaths, there will be no road works sign warning of the temporary nature of the road ahead and there will be no 20kph warning of the need to reduce speed from 100kph.
For clarity, the approaches to the temporary bridge are similar to the ones BMX bikers use on their jumps. In conclusion, are the Council spending your money wisely? They at least will not have to keep coming back to put signs up that should have been done properly in the first place and if someone is killed or injured due to the lack of warning signs? Well that’s another Government department’s expense, that’s the taxpayer not the ratepayer. Aren’t we fortunate to have such thoughtful people at the helm?
C. Hobson.
