LTCCP: BLACKMAIL

The Nelson City council is resorting to blackmail in their attempt to defend the indefensible, of this mortgage holiday insanity.
In response to growing criticism, council are now claiming that not taking that holiday to hell, will require council to rip many millions of dollars worth of capital expenditure [capex] out of the LTCCP, which seriously hurts the local economy.
That is a ship load of absolute bull chips, which comprehensively demonstrates this council's abysmal ignorance of proper capital planning.
This holiday from hell, is in fact, the sleight of hand that is required, to hide a massive increase in capex and rates, rather than to avoid any decrease in capex.
If that mortgage holiday did not exist, the huge and unacceptable, underlying rate increases, underpinning that increased capex would be out in the open and ratepayers would be howling from the roof tops in protest.
The real problem underlying this whole issue, is that this "hands up" council knows that it is only a one term council, and it is therefore attempting to lock its vested interest spending agenda into place, before being given the heave ho.
Council is cramming ten years worth of capital expenditure into three years, and then contractually locking that expenditure into place, to kneecap any future ability to alter that spending agenda or massage it into any semblance of prudence.
The claim that millions need to be ripped out of this plan is absolute hogswash and rubbish.
If that planned capex is introduced evenly, and spread out consistently over the entire ten year period of the plan, then there are no unacceptable rate increases to hide, and the need for a mortgage holiday disappears.
Instead of massively cramming everything into the beginning of the plan, any responsible captain of a ship of state, would be steering a prudent, steady as she goes course, rather than an entirely distorted and erratic course, which gives the impression that whoever is at the helm is intoxicated.