Kaiapoi petition has good response

Press, 4 July 1979, Page 3

Kaiapoi petition has good response

Kaiapoi residents were “falling over themselves” to sign a petition calling for the resignation of the town’s I council, said the secretary of i the Kaiapoi Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association (Mrs Peggy Wade) yesterday.

More than 1000 persons had signed the petition, which had been in circulation since June 29, said Mrs Wade.

The borough’s population is about 4700.

‘ “We are not going to take this sitting down,” Mrs Wade said. “Many people who have rallied round have said that that rate increase is too much."

The association would be happy to arrange a public meeting, she said. The assertion of the Mayor of Kaiapoi (Mr B. O. Williams) that the association’s petition asking the council to reconsider this year’s estimates had arrived too late, was incorrect, said Mrs Wade.

The president of the association (Mr J. Wilson) had presented the petition to the council on June 5, said Mrs Wade. Kaiapoi’s rates, which had risen an average of 38.4 per cent, had been confirmed at a council meeting on June 13.

The association had never made any “overtures” to stop the council raising loan money, said Mrs Wade. There had also been no opposition to the water reticulation scheme. However the association did object to the big increase in the estimated cost of the scheme, from 5900,000 to $1.4 million. The council had calculated the rates to get it out of financial difficulties, Mrs Wade said. Now it was putting the blame on the ratepayers.