The ‘I wanna museum but I want someone else to pay for it (ratepayers) brigade' are bleating once again. They know that if they fail 30 times they only have to succeed once.

The failed waterfront museum project was budgeted at $21 million in 2009. A small group of us opposing ratepayer involvement had the project independently quantity surveyed and that estimate was in excess of $40m. Those supporting ratepayer funding of a museum knew that once the project was committed it didn't matter to them what it cost.

A cynic might say the original $21 million was just bait? Official operational costs were estimated at $2-$3m. Our estimates were nearly double that, including loan and depreciation costs. The fact is a ratepayer-funded museum will require a rates increase of around five per cent – nothing has changed except those numbers.

B Faulkner, Otumoetai.