If there has been one constant refrain from submitters to the annual plan meeting in the last two days, it is concern about the level of spending, and debt, to which the council is committing itself.
That concern was included in most submissions about the stadium and Town Hall upgrade, and they continued yesterday.
The council has included $91.4 million in the plan for the stadium, and interest will add to the cost, and the upgrade has been costed at more then $40 million.
Interspersed between the submissions on the two big issues were requests from a variety of organisations for funding help, which Deputy Mayor Syd Brown estimated at the end of yesterday would add about $2.9 million to next year's budget if all were approved.
Dunedin Ratepayers and Householders member Neville Poole sparked a small debate on the council's attitude towards debt when he broached the issue in his submission..
Mr Poole told the hearings committee people in the city were struggling, as Dunedin was a low-wage city.
Ratepayers could not afford to pay more rates.
Cr Michael Guest asked him if he thought the council was really ‘‘blind and uncaring'' about people on low wages.
Mr Poole said the council was either blind and uncaring, or had not been out in the community to see how people were faring. Cr Guest asked him if he thought the city's facilities were in danger of ‘‘winding down'', to the point they could become unusable.
‘‘In your mind, is progress putting the city into millions and millions and millions of dollars of debt?'' Mr Poole responded.
Cr John Bezett said Dunedin people paid lower rates compared with other cities. Cr Richard Walls asked Mr Poole if he was talking about the stadium.
‘‘I'm talking about the overall projected spending of the city,'' he said.
The hearings finish tomorrow, and the committee will begin deliberations on Monday.
