Submitters to the Long Term Plan didn’t want rate increases, but the growing district faced increasing infrastructure costs, he said. “A lot of people think the council is an extension of central Government, and we’ve got a bottomless pit of money from other sources. “We don’t, we’re funded by the ratepayer.” Sanson said Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency pulled out about $11million in funding – which the council matches with its own funding – for local roads. He maintained roads wouldn’t suffer as a result. File Waikato District mayor Allan Sanson said roads would not suffer as a result of lowering a rate increase from 9 per cent to 6.5 per cent.