Christchurch mayor backs govt-capped rates rise

Otago Daily Times

2 days ago

By Tim Brown of RNZ
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger is backing calls for the government to cap rates rises.
Cabinet will consider options to control rate rises, including capping, later this year.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has complained of councils' wasteful spending, comparing local politicians to kids in a candy store.
"Councils don't always do a great job of spending your money like you would spend it. There are wasteful projects - there is evidence of that," Willis told RNZ's Morning Report programme yesterday.
"We want councils focusing on the things people expect them to do, which is the rubbish, the roads, the pipes, the basics - and not all the fanciful projects."
Mauger told RNZ he could not agree more.
"Everyone campaigns 'ohh, we gotta stick to basics', right? And then the first thing some of us do is go away and not stick to basics," he said.
"We need to be stronger around the council table to say what's basics. Now ... someone's basic might be someone else's must have ... but it's good to have rates caps. I feel it's good. I really do."
Earlier this year, the Taxpayers' Union launched a campaign calling for rates to be capped at inflation levels.
Mauger imagined a cap closer to 5%, saying his council was "very close to what I'd call the rates cap".
He conceded it would not be possible to cap rates at inflation.
"If it's low as that we would struggle with that. I think to get down to 2 percent, if the government put a rates cap at 2 percent on it, I think there's a lot of problems."
Christchurch City Council had approved average rates increases of 6.4%, 9.9% and 6.6% this term, as a result average rates bills had climbed almost 25% in the city this triennium, while inflation had only risen about 8% during that time.
Willis told Morning Report she expected push back from councils "because when you take candy away from kids in a candy store, they don't really like it. But at the same time, we are on the side of ratepayers".
Asked if he was acting like a kid in a candy store, Mauger told RNZ: "No - when it's my own money, it is. But when you're spending other people's money, [rates caps] are good".
"If we had money running out of our ears, you'd spend it on other stuff. We haven't got that at the moment."
He agreed with Willis that councils had engaged in wasteful spending, and when asked for an example he pointed to cycleway spending.
"We've wasted money on how we have designed and built cycleways. Now I'm not against cycleways but we can build them one hell of a lot cheaper - a lot, lot cheaper," Mauger said.
The council had budgeted $210.4 million for new cycleways, improvements, and cycleway and footpath renewals over the next decade in its long-term plan.
However, that only accounted for 3.2% of its budgeted $6.5 billion in capital spending.
With major projects, such as Christchurch's new stadium and new sports complex almost complete, rates pressure would ease in the future.
But Mauger said the council still needed to find other ways to cut its cloth.
"What we've got to look at is our levels of service now.
"Everyone expects when they walk out the door, they expect the footpath to be half-good, they expect the gutter to be falling the right way, they expect the water to be not leaking out of the ground, the grass mowed and rubbish picked up - that's what they expect.
"If we backed off and didn't mow the grass as often or didn't pick up the rubbish as often, that's how we could save some money. I can't say that's how you would, but that's how we can do it quicker and easier."
Rates caps had been panned by Labour leader Chris Hipkins - who said it would make the problem worse not better - and Local Government New Zealand president and Selwyn District mayor Sam Broughton - who said capping rates could be "disastrous for communities".