Poll: How should Guy Fawkes be celebrated?
While it is a fun occasion, fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night has caused much conflict over the years, upsetting our pets and disrupting the sleep of neighbours.
How should we celebrate Guy Fawkes Night? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.
-
28.8% With a city-wide public fireworks display
-
19.7% Small fireworks displays in each community
-
7.4% Keep it as is
-
33.6% We shouldn't celebrate it!
-
10% Anything but fireworks
-
0.6% Other - I'll share below
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
What's your favourite Christmas song?
There's new ones every year, some become classics and some are not so good. What do you consider your favourite Christmas song.
And more importantly, what song would you ban? Share below!
2024 property valuations available
Property valuations are in the mail. Our valuer, Opteon, says they are generally similar to what they were in the previous valuation, done in 2021.
The rating valuation of every property in the District as at 1 July 2024 is also available online, via our online rates database search, and a new online valuation map:
🏠 www.wdc.govt.nz...
When we know the total value of all the property in the District, along with the value of each individual property, we can work out what share of the District’s rates to charge each ratepayer.
Key terms:
🏠 Capital value: An approximation of what your property may have sold for as at 1 July 2024, excluding chattels.
🏠 Land value: This is the value of the land as if free from improvements (if you imagined the land to be bare). This is the figure Council uses to set your rates.
🏠 Improvement value: This is the difference between the land value and the capital value.
Opteon is an independent, third-party valuation company. Opteon uses recent property sales data, resource and building consent data, and sample inspections to produce updated market values.
Full story:
📰 www.wdc.govt.nz...