Motueka's NBS Starlight Christmas Parade has been postponed, Richmond's parade may go ahead in a different format and it's fingers-crossed Nelson's can still be held.
Braden Fastier/Stuff
Paper Plus Motueka owner/operators Sarah and Mark Amyes inside their hail-damaged Motueka store, which is not expected to open for another 8-10 weeks. “We walked up to the side of the shop and the ground was like a ski field,” Sarah said. “We looked in the door and Mark said ‘I hope that’s a reflection’.” As they opened the door, water began to pour out onto the street. “The ceiling was raining, and we were ankle-deep in water. A few choice words were said and we burst into tears.” Sarah said while a small army of volunteers turned up to deal with the water and try and save the stock – the damage had already been done.
Martin De Ruyter/Stuff
Mayor Tim King, left, and council chief executive Janine Dowding say in the Annual Report that 2019-20 has been a year of change and challenges. The 2019-20 result was also helped by some external factors that moved in the council’s favour including increased revenue from forestry, lower borrowing costs, low inflation and higher-than-anticipated population growth. Net debt of $156.2m is below the council’s self-imposed cap of $200m and almost $35m lower than $191m that had been forecast. Rates revenue for the year was $76m, comprised of $40.3m from general rates and $35.7m from targeted rates. Revenue from all other sources such as forestry harvesting; fees and charges; development and financial contributions as well as capital subsidies and grants totalled $84.5m.