The ORC are an unaffordable blight on Dunedin’s development, wielding the Power of No and bureaucratic red-tape and delay like a religion.
Dunedin has long needed a Unitary Council to cut duplication and planet-saving paralysis.
ODT article 27/06/25 MP Shane Jones calling for getting rid of ORC not available behind paywall.
See FaceBook post for ODT Shane Jones’ article on Lee Vandervis’ FB page.
Hard frosts may be on the way now that we have had the shortest day – make sure your radiator is full of anit-freeze that also lubricates and limits engine rust.
Maintenance can keep many good things going as long as you catch it in time.
Keeping water out of old houses like our 1880s villa and keeping water in old cars.
This 1987 5.8L Landcruiser may last for decades yet if I keep on top of things like a leaky radiator…
Got the radiator back in today just ahead of the rain.
Having to weld a stainless bracket onto a rusted battery tray holder was the only real delay. [there is always something it seems]
After a warm up it leaked a bit, but I knew it must be hoses because David at Radiator Services always does a lovely job of seams and pressure-tests to make sure.
Turned out I just had to tighten one hose-clamp a bit more and the Grey Goat is all good again.
In the two hours before going under the knife for a new hip this week on Wednesday I learned of the last-minute proposal to change The DCC Revenue and Financing Policy to allow even more spending to be classified as DEBT, so as Chair of Finance and Council Controlled Organisations I wrote this response, which the ODT subsequently quoted accurately on Saturday’s front page.
Dear Elected Representatives and Senior Staff
Shameless, a proposal to change our Financing Policy so that we can reclassify even more spending as capital.
A capital idea.
More ‘let’s do it on debt’.
More, yes more that Council can spend now that doesn’t appear as a rates increase [short-term at least] but just pays it forward into the never-never of debt.
Some have argued that building major stuff like our Town Hall without debt happened ‘in a different time 100 years ago’, even though the Mayor Skeggs Council Civic Centre was built without substantial debt or rates rises in 1979, and substantial DCC debt only began to grow this century.
And now we somehow justify raising an extra 100 million$ in debt every year, a new Stadium’s worth [Stadium debt still not paid back after 14 years!] and not build anything substantially new with this massive debt increase, claim falsely that this is all somehow “good debt” and claim that all our mainly infrastructure maintenance is somehow all capital expenditure so can be borrowed.
Even better when we can cunningly leave out all our increasing debt figures, both in the CEO Overview and the hundreds of pages of 9 Year Plan, bar a single distant 2034 billion$ figure, and get people to focus only on the rates increase.
You get the votes for spending money now that somebody else will have to repay 10 years later, and with unbalanced budgets you can even use the borrowings to pay the interest in the meantime!
Buy heaps now, somebody else can pay later.
Brilliant!
Regards.
Lee
Trouble climbing in and out of cars was the first sign of a R hip joint that had run out of what was needed to keep the bones from painful grinding under load.
This Xray from several years ago shows the difference in spacing between the pelvic bone on the L and the R femoral head [top of thigh bone]
My worst issue with this arthritic hip joint was trying to sleep with occasional severe pain at night when I moved or turned over.
Not keen on pain-killers, I looped a couple of tractor inner-tube loops together and strapped them to the footer of the bed to give the joint a wee stretch. Worked a treat for about two years.
Two years ago Antonie and I managed a holiday in Vietnam starting in Hanoi where the taxi driver recommended the French Hanoi Hospital as being good to check out hip problems.
We called the Hospital number from our hotel and they said to they could see me in 30 minutes so we got back in the taxi and had an excellent specialist examine, do multiple angle Xrays, MRI scan [with CD copy] and inject a steroid into the joint to reduce inflammation [and pain]. This along with diagnosis, prognosis and some other medication cost under NZ$1,000 and it all took 2 hours which our doctor son here at Dunedin Hospital said would have cost about $10,000 here and taken 3 months.
Walking got easier and a memorable holiday was had, but at the beginning of this year I pushed the joint a bit too hard while lifting a small beam up a ladder at our farm and the joint went ‘kerlonk’ and the pain got worse.
With no chance of getting a hip replacement on our Dunedin Health System waiting list because I had not been on pain killers for a year and could still just walk to the letterbox, I researched the best option for a privately paid for hip replacement and sold my best Landcruiser to help pay for the estimated $25,000 cost.
A less invasive anterior operation with quick recovery was offered at Timaru Bidwill Hospital but I still had to wait 3 months before a surgery date 28/5/25 last Wednesday was available.
The Surgeon Mark Cvitanich was very reassuring having done 400 of these hip operations.
He explained the detailed operation process, showing me the titanium and ceramic bits that would replace my crunched bone joint and assured me that I would be up and walking with crutches as soon as the epidural anesthetic wore off and I could wiggle my toes.
The titanium bits have special bubbly surfaces that the existing bone quickly grows into without the need for any glues.
And that is just what happened.
Within a couple of hours I was doing rounds of the Hospital ward on crutches and next morning was off home to Dunedin with a bucket of drugs and just this bandage to show for a complete hip replacement job.
They also let me have the worn top ball of the joint [femoral head] which has now been replaced with a ceramic ball and titanium attachments.
Mark explained that was a bit tough to remove so got broken in the process.
Just as well the Anesthetist Mr Duran had everything well under control.
I was very happy to wake up with the news that all had gone well.
and we were able to stop off in Oamaru for lunch and a wander on the way home.
I am told the healing will take 6 weeks and I need to walk lots progressively each day and there is a heap of drugs that will make this stage of the process tolerable, including pain relief, muscle relaxant, laxatives, blood thinners, and antibiotics.
I am delighted with the hip op, the expertise of Mark Cvitanich and the caring and attentive staff at Bidwill Hospital and I am looking forward to a full recovery and maximum mobility within 6 weeks.
From: Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>
Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2025 at 1:18 PM
To: Ruby Shaw <ruby.shaw@alliedpress.co.nz>
Cc: Nicholas Smith <nicholas.smith@xtra.co.nz>
Subject: 2025 Election
Hi Ruby,
Ta for your interest in my election plans.
I am standing as an independent candidate for Dunedin Mayor and Council this October. With extensive business and political experience, I believe I am the best candidate available to help maintain and improve our quality of life. I pay for my own independent election campaigns, ensuring I work for Dunedin’s people, not for other party interests.
My track record includes uncovering Citifleet and mud-tank contract fraud, exposing millions lost in Jacks Point, Luggate, and Yaldhurst subdivision mismanagement, and opposing millions wasted annually on such planet-saving as underused cycleways and carbon-counting paperwork. As DCC Chair of Finance, I have driven transparency with clear debt and dividend graphs, secured a new focus on returning DCC company profits to ratepayers, and delivered an $11 million dividend this year—the first since 2015—to ease rates pressure.
My priorities are affordable rates, robust infrastructure, better value for rates, and a slimmer and more facilitating bureaucracy supporting local businesses and social organisations.
I am standing to serve Dunedin people and promote the major changes needed to make Dunedin sustainable – economically and environmentally.
Kind regards,
Lee Vandervis
021-612340
47 Garfield Avenue
Roslyn
Dunedin 9010
From: Ruby Shaw <ruby.shaw@alliedpress.co.nz>
Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2025 at 10:22 AM
To: Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>
Subject: 2025 Election
Mōrena,
With growing talk about this year’s election, I’d like to ask you about any plans for re-election.
Are you planning to stand for council again? Are you planning to stand for mayor?
If you’re running, is it as part of a ticket or with party affiliation and with who?
If you’re not standing, why not?
If you haven’t made a decision, when do you expect to make one and what are you weighing up?
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks for your time, my deadline is 4pm today,
Ruby
From: Lee Vandervis lee@vandervision.co.nz
Date: Monday, 28 April 2025 at 2:41 PM
To: Ruby Shaw ruby.shaw@alliedpress.co.nz
Subject: Re: Business South and Zero Carbon Alliance
Hi Ruby,
I agree with Business South CEO Mike Collins that the DCC Zero Carbon Alliance plan is “’very ambitious’ and there were concerns the time-frame to be zero carbon by 2030 was too short.”
In my view “very ambitious” zero carbon by 2030 understates the extreme and unaffordable proposed DCC actions, which come on top of a decade and thousands of pages of DCC CO2-reduction planning and carbon footprint calculating.
The costs of DCC carbon reduction paperwork already runs to more than a million dollars per year with no perceptible benefit for Dunedin citizens except perhaps warm planet-saving fuzzies for some.
Further impractical environmental sustainability spending while ignoring financial sustainability is worsening massive debt and rates increases while decreasing our ability to deal with real crises as they occur.
On top of the bureaucratic costs, the slower traffic, severe speed humps and reduced parking have all been collateral damage from DCC zero carbon 2030 ideology, with the previous DCC roading manager Nick Sargeant telling Councillors that “we have to get people out of their cars or the planet will burn.’
Cheers,
Lee
From: Ruby Shaw ruby.shaw@alliedpress.co.nz
Date: Monday, 28 April 2025 at 12:48 PM
To: Council 2022-2025 (Elected Members) council.2022-2025@dcc.govt.nz, Lee Vandervis lee@vandervision.co.nz, Mayor mayor@dcc.govt.nz
Subject: Business South and Zero Carbon Alliance
Kia ora,
I am working on an article about Business South declining the DCC’s invitation to join the Zero Carbon Alliance and wanted to give councillors an opportunity to comment on the story.
Business South chief executive Mike Collins said the organisation declined to join because it was already part of the Sustainable Business Council.
He also said the invitation was declined because the plan was “very ambitious” and there were concerns the timeframe to be zero-carbon by 2030 was too short.
He felt a 2050 goal was more appropriate.
What is your reaction to Business South declining the council’s invitation?
What impact will it have on the council and the ZCA’s sustainability goals? Is it a blow?
What do you make of Mr Collins comment that the plan is too ambitious?
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank for your time, my deadline is 4pm today,
Ruby
Ruby Shaw
Reporter
Allied Press
This power is used as a last resort when all other attempts to get the rates paid have been exhausted.”
I know of someone personally who had his home put into an auction process by a court order to recover rates owed because he had not paid his rates for many years.
DCC staff assured me that this was very rare and that forcing rates payments was only ever a last resort.
It turns out that Rating Act provisions also allow Councils to forcibly extract rates payments by simply getting your bank to pay them and add the cost to your mortgage, and that currently there are over 200 Dunedin homeowners having their rates forcibly paid in this way.
“In Dunedin, 218 demands were recently sent to banks and lenders for unpaid rates of $763,595 in the 23-24 year.”
The full story is on Stuff
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360641227/councils-take-millions-dollars-mortgages-unpaid-rates
There are some inaccuracies in the Andrew Simms summation as below, but in general I agree that the DCC should not proceed with its Smooth Hill landfill because of its unaffordable financial and environmental implications as well as a long history of poor management and planning of DCC landfill services.
These implications have long been obvious to me and I have voted against building Smooth Hill whenever the opportunity to vote and debate against it have arisen.
If you Google NZ Government Funding for Maori there are 15 pages of Google headings to search through to get an idea of the scale of it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=NZ+Government+Funding+for+Maori&sca_esv=da447278f1366733&sxsrf=ADLYWIJZVoXt2gZR66ugYDASwhzZHns1ig:1728803084089&ei=DHELZ8eRBfiX0-kP9cHv6QE&start=0&sa=N&sstk=Aagrsuj9W84hMmi2QmmqH1nKF1zzKznbTMKn5sgpl9Z6bkKBLSumG1tMM2-g2vMcj9z6of6p3j62FA95hbh4uBYgCJwhoeU5DDFc4J1MTf4ryUyzvcNpSHjbGkdXjmLEJfSJOn9hy3ZdguhWb_uOqF3to87-j7VorFA-sjOfXYy64LbNx-urkO1bq1pgKQYKWvR-Top1LSM-EPPAnxf3GnZKoUqft4OtqYIIW2_ogN-6hpLoxrzZQYeQv19OkPLXshOLSCwe4XkKG4C2PCz5BFbeG5U4SQ1-DBH4dgL8dAxU7WoIo5cWJkB1L2Df&ved=2ahUKEwjHx9qt5YqJAxX4yzQHHfXgOx04FBDy0wN6BAgFEAQ&biw=1262&bih=679&dpr=2
The answer that came back was 58.7%.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich and Cr Lee Vandervis sought to stop further cycle-ways spending.
However, their motion to have all further planned Dunedin City Council cycleways funding reviewed — because of ‘‘very low and declining use’’ of cycle lanes — failed.
This despite DCC’s own cycleway counter evidence of low and falling cycleway use.
This is the DCC cycle-count data that Cr Walker and others have long claimed would show increasing cycle usage over the last 4 years, when there has actually been a decline in cycle lane usage from 2022 despite an increasing Dunedin population…
NZTA might be forgiven for thinking it is still winter here in Dunedin, but spending our road taxes on such patronising road ‘safety’ advertising is surely a distracting waste of our money.
DCC Economic Development Agenda Data spoken of positively by many Councillors
when in fact every significant comparison of Dunedin data compared to New Zealand averages data showed Dunedin to be below average, in many cases well below average.
Look at how low Dunedin Average House Values are compared to the NZ average.
The hard 2023 data ran for scores of pages in our agenda but my speech summary notes show the significant standards.
Most elected representatives are in serious denial when trying to highlight good news from these latest figures, and have accused me of talking Dunedin down when highlighting the hard facts.
I believe that clearly identifying problems is the necessary first step to solving these problems.
This seesaw was $50 on FaceBook Marketplace at the time, and seems much better value to me.
finding out how this $600,000 was spent is as below.
From: Sharon Bodeker <Sharon.Bodeker@dcc.govt.nz>
Date: Thursday, 21 November 2024 at 4:25 PM
To: Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>
Subject: FW: LGOIMA request
Dear Lee
Further to your email below, please find attached invoice details of the George St playground as requested. I note that some of the items on the ENI invoice to Isaac have been redacted as not being costs relating to the playground.
I apologise for the delay in sending this information to you.
Kind regards
Sharon
From: Jenny Lapham <Jenny.Lapham@dcc.govt.nz>
Sent: Thursday, 24 October 2024 3:32 p.m.
To: Official Information <officialinformation@dcc.govt.nz>
Subject: FW: LGOIMA request
From: Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>
Sent: Wednesday, 16 October 2024 11:18 p.m.
To: Sharon Bodeker <Sharon.Bodeker@dcc.govt.nz>; Jenny Lapham <Jenny.Lapham@dcc.govt.nz>
Subject: LGOIMA request
Hi Sharon and Jenny,
Can you please forward to my email detailed copies of original paid invoices for the George street playground that amount to the publicised $600,000 cost of the playground.
Kind regards,
Lee
Michael Laws has independently asked questions that I have long been asking [and have had racist accusations from other Councillors and Code of Conduct complaints for my trouble] but Laws has gone further to uncover the extent of ‘relationship funding’ with Maori in Local Government across NZ…
Check out this page https://theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/michael-laws-why-did-the-otago-regional-council-pay-usd5-3m-to-iwi
Central Government funding of Maori is in addition.
If you Google NZ Government Funding for Maori there are 15 pages of Google headings to search through to get an idea of the scale of it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=NZ+Government+Funding+for+Maori&sca_esv=da447278f1366733&sxsrf=ADLYWIJZVoXt2gZR66ugYDASwhzZHns1ig:1728803084089&ei=DHELZ8eRBfiX0-kP9cHv6QE&start=0&sa=N&sstk=Aagrsuj9W84hMmi2QmmqH1nKF1zzKznbTMKn5sgpl9Z6bkKBLSumG1tMM2-g2vMcj9z6of6p3j62FA95hbh4uBYgCJwhoeU5DDFc4J1MTf4ryUyzvcNpSHjbGkdXjmLEJfSJOn9hy3ZdguhWb_uOqF3to87-j7VorFA-sjOfXYy64LbNx-urkO1bq1pgKQYKWvR-Top1LSM-EPPAnxf3GnZKoUqft4OtqYIIW2_ogN-6hpLoxrzZQYeQv19OkPLXshOLSCwe4XkKG4C2PCz5BFbeG5U4SQ1-DBH4dgL8dAxU7WoIo5cWJkB1L2Df&ved=2ahUKEwjHx9qt5YqJAxX4yzQHHfXgOx04FBDy0wN6BAgFEAQ&biw=1262&bih=679&dpr=2
Lee Vandervis - lee@vandervision.co.nz 