NoMoreRates
THE NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN TO REPLACE THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF COUNCIL RATES WITH A FAIRER SYSTEM WHICH REFLECTS ABILITY TO PAY AND VALUE FOR MONEY.

Independent Rates Inquiry Starts As A Fiasco – Website Down – Meetings Not Advertised – Ratepayers Totally In The Dark

After the huge reaction to council rate increases last year the Government announced the establishment of an Independent Inquiry.

On 14th February the Inquiry posted a media release on its website detailing meetings throughout the country – the first two of which are next Monday and Tuesday.

On discovering that hardly anyone in the country is aware that these meetings are now about to start I have emailed this information to hundreds of ‘core’ supporters of NoMoreRates, who in turn are passing the message on to their own mailing lists – potentially thousands of interested people.

Now I am receiving replies advising that the official Inquiry website is not available – www.ratesinquiry.govt.nz

Iain Mclean,[ communications advisor to the Inquiry is laying the blame on the Department of Internal Affairs.

The situation is therefore, hardly anyone knows these public meetings are on, background information vital to understand the work of the Inquiry is not availble, and the first meetings in Hamilton and Auckland will be useless if ratepayers are not able to attend at such short notice and without being reasonably informed.

This is a fiasco right at the start of this $1.5 million inquiry.

Ends

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