In the past year sceptics, at 54 per cent, have overtaken champions when it comes to rating the Waipā District Council.
Read: We can’t get no satisfaction
We take a snapshot of comments from the district council’s residents’ survey.
- The guys who do the parks and gardens do a wonderful job.
- I am confident in my local council’s ability to look after this community and move us into the next decade in a financial position that does not bare a burden on the ratepayers.
- It’s the best council I’ve lived in within 60 years or so.
- Keep up the good work. There has been a high standard set, may it continue!
- Very happy with all that they do.
- I like all the parks/green spaces to walk around. The cycle track by the river/velodrome is awesome.
- Great work team.
- I elected you because I felt you were the best at the job. Keep going.
- Great new mayor.
- Communication is generally regular.
- I might complain about it, but it’s still the best council I’ve ever lived with.
- We have such an incredible team of people all working together to make our town a beautiful place to live.
- I am very impressed with the new rain gardens that have been installed to filter stormwater that runs into Lake Te Koutu. This is both innovative and attractive and in time will mean the lake is healthier. I also found a small community garden on a kerbside, which is very pleasing to see.
- Waipā District Council has a good record of providing these services. Also, I am totally opposed to the Three Waters proposal.
- The Antenno app is an absolute lifesaver with reminders about which rubbish bins are due to be collected and additional updates if there won’t be a pickup due to unfortunate situations. It’s very informative all the time, but not too much.
- Information is always put out to consumers if recycling is not going to happen in the allocated week. Good communication
- I like that we receive information in the mail about what is happening within Cambridge.
- Our council provides wonderful services to our whole community and even though I don’t use them all, I am happy for my rates to provide them to everyone.
- The new children’s playgrounds and the new pool in the centre of town are great community assets which were worth every cent of the ratepayer’s contribution.
- It is great having so many free things and places to take the kids like bike rides, playgrounds, toilets, libraries, and parks.
- Keep up the great work. Te Awamutu town is awesome.
- The community has progressed significantly over the past few years with money well spent on infrastructure to support this growth.
- As I am a pensioner, I don’t use a lot of the facilities I’m charged for, however, I think I still get value for money.
- I believe we get good value for the rates and fees we pay to Waipā District Council.
- Generally, the council keeps basic expenditure and the provision of services under control.
- Parking is a real problem. My husband and I have health problems that prevent us from walking too far. Although we have a mobility parking permit, there aren’t that many around town and we both feel it would be great to have a parking building.
- Utilise the spaces between trees down the older roads in urban areas to create more parking for cars. Roads become narrow when cars are parked on both sides.
- They need to stop spending money on playgrounds no one uses and spend money on fixing the roads. The roading conditions are disgusting.
- There are nowhere near enough mobility parks in the area. It is impossible to watch kids’ netball games on Saturdays because the place is impossible to get around with all the changes in level and lack of accessible parking.
- I would like to see improvements on the upper Hall Street footpaths. Lots of elderly residents in that area are unable to walk the street due to the uneven and broken path.
- Stop putting manufacturing and other noisy industries adjacent to housing areas.
- The streets are dirty with rubbish and graffiti. The walkway from the parking area by Stirling Sports has vomit down it. Dirt and graffiti are not a good look for the town.
- There have been problems with the kerbside recycling collection in that the contractors have not always been making the collection when they are supposed to.
- There should be a transfer station. Recycling has become very unreliable lately. Covid-19 should not be used as an excuse for poor service.
- It’s way too expensive to use the dump. It’s cheaper to drive to Cambridge, which is crazy as it’s the same council. Recycling is a joke as far as glass is concerned. I would like to see food waste recycling started as they have it in other towns.
- The kerbside collection of recycling in Ōhaupō is sometimes missed.
- The contractors for the recycling bins need to be more accountable for the non-pick-up of bins. They seem to be having many issues this year.
- I don’t use the pool or velodrome, but I have to pay for them.
- I am getting charged for services that do not apply to me.
- My rates have gone up over 30 per cent in the last five years and I now get fewer services than I used to. I pay for a private company to deal with my water, rubbish, and green waste. I have minimal use of other council-provided services.
- When I moved here, I paid roughly the same rates as I did in Auckland on a property that had double the value. Cambridge is expensive.
- They spend on feel-good projects instead of basic services.
- Rates are expensive. The cost for things like pools on top of that seems excessive compared to other councils in the area.
- Rates just always increase but it is hard to see what we get in return
