Hastings District Councillors must all be skipping breakfast
14 AUGUST 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
As reported in the Hawke's Bay Today, a New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union analysis of catering costs at Hawke's Bay councils has revealed Hastings District Councillors to be guilty of
ratepayer-funded gluttony.
Hastings District Council spent $50,375.88 on catering for its elected members in 2017 – or about $1,000 a week. Across
all of Council, the total catering expense was a staggering $116,371.19.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council also spent a significant $44,955.63 on catering across Council. At Central Hawke’s Bay
District Council this figure was $34,362.36, and even the small Wairoa District Council spent $29,623.77.
In contrast, Napier District Council spent just $4,285.44 on catering across all of Council.
Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Why is it that Hastings District Councillors need to spend more than ten times the
amount on food than Napier’s entire Council? What could possibly be the explanation for this? Do Hastings’ Councillors
have eyes bigger than their stomachs, are they forgetting to eat their morning Weet-bix?”
“A tip-off reveals a possible explanation – Instagram posts from a local caterer advertise the lavish platters prepared for the Council. It appears Councillors are eating better
than the ratepayers who fund their salaries.”
ends