Air conditioned relief

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 645, 16 July 1996, Page 4

Air conditioned relief

• This is addressed to the Ruapehu District Council in connection with relief to businesses because of the eruption of Mt Ruapehu and the hardship it has caused. As Mr Banks seems adamant that there will be no handout from Government, I wonder if our District Council should not consider the following idea. I note that $ 1 79,000 has been set aside for airconditioning of their offices as well as a further $ 1 72,000 for upgrading their computers. This is a total in excess of $0.35 million. Could this money not be used in subsidising some of the council charges, such as rubbish dumping, to all businesses in the RDC area, and these almost unimportant items come in a later budget? To me this appears to be a small solution but I'm sure a welcome one to those affected by the eruption. At the same time, it would be a contribution from the people of the area (by way of rates) and could get service from a lot of these businesses. Another question I would like to put is that if this money had to come directly from your pocket (assuming that you ran the Ruapehu District as your own business) would you spend it? - — a question always asked by my directors.

Retired Company Manager