The Dunedin City Council has voted to take a proposed 17.5 percent rates hike for the coming year to the public.
Tess backgrounds what is driving the rise. The council is also considering a proposal to sell its lines company, Aurora Energy.
Asbestos has been found in a Southland dump that is eroding into the sea at Bluecliffs.
Rapid erosion means the area remains under a state of emergency.
And Otago can now lay claim to its own population of the rare and nationally threatened Smeagol sea slug following a discovery in the Akatore Creek estuary.
Photo: Supplied/Otago Regional Council
