Latest news with #Gyenge
Scoop
6 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Tauranga's Rates Hike Approved Amid Protest
Tauranga homeowners will pay an extra $180 to $1124 in rates for 2025 after the council approved its budget. Tauranga City Council adopted the 2025/26 Annual Plan at a meeting on Thursday with a 9.9 percent overall rates increase. About 60 people gathered before the meeting to protest the rates increase. It was the second rally organised by Jan Gyenge. In May, around 250 people marched down Devonport Rd calling for a 0 percent rates increase for 2025. Gyenge said Thursday's rally was to let the councillors know people were still not happy with the 9.9 percent rates increase, given it was nowhere near the 0 percent they called for. There would be another protest at midday Sunday outside the council building at 90 Devonport Rd, she said. The 9.9 percent increase was down from the 12.5 percent initially proposed. Gyenge and three others spoke in the public forum asking the council to reduce the rates. Gyenge's request to speak at Wednesday's meeting was initially declined because the council said her perspective had been heard before, but it had a last-minute change of heart. She asked the councillors to "stop the wastage". Gyenge talked about the council's spending and chastised it for a planned playground opening event in Bethlehem, with free food and face-painting. "It's a little amount, relatively, but these little amounts add up. This expenditure has to stop." Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the council took more than $30 million out of its operating budget to get to the 9.9 percent increase. This included cutting 98 staff, with more likely still to come as the council underwent a management review. Drysdale said there was a lot of work to do in Tauranga after "chronic underinvestment" in facilities and infrastructure. "We do understand the tough financial position a number of households find themselves in. This [annual plan] strikes a good balance of keeping the investment in our city for what we need for the future while making it as affordable as possible." Councillor Rick Curach said the council had a big job ahead to look for further savings, but he was confident they could reduce the forecasted rates in the 10-year plan. Rates increases were not in line with people's wage increases, and many in the community found it "increasingly difficult" to afford them, he said. "I look forward to finding more and more savings and not having such a huge cost on our community." Councillor Glen Crowther said he would support the Annual Plan, but the council had to deliver a lower rates increase next year. It also needed to look at its capital projects and reorganise them to "lock in some affordability", he saidm and figure out what the public could afford and come up with a plan that met those requirements. "We are here to serve the public. We are not here to deliver a plan." Deputy Mayor Jen Scoular said people wanted new playgrounds, sports fields and facilities, but the council needed to understand how to get more value from its "significant expenditure". Drysdale said they were approving a budget by adopting the Annual Plan but that did not mean they needed to spend it all. "We want to find every saving that we can, and I think there's big opportunities to continue to save money." The council could deliver the same assets for significantly less money if it looked at its processes and did things differently, he said. "This is setting a budget\ - now the real hard work starts as we try to deliver under that budget." How much will your rates increase? Capital value $355,000 - $180.83 (8.3%) Capital value $885,000 - $320.72 (9.2%) Capital Value $1.12m - $382.75 (9.4%) Capital Value $3.929m - $1124.22 (10.2%) - LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Scoop
22-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Tauranga Rally Urges City Council To Cut Rates Amid Proposed 12% Hike
About 250 people attended a rally at Tauranga's Memorial Park urging the city council to reduce rates. Act list MP Cameron Luxton spoke to the crowd before they marched to The Strand in the city centre on Sunday. Rally organiser Jan Gyenge wanted Tauranga City Council to find $40 million in savings because she said the proposed 12% rates increase was 'unsustainable'. If the council could save $40m it could deliver a 0% residential rate increase, she told Local Democracy Reporting before the event. Gyenge said the rally went well and there was great engagement from the attendees. The crowd stopped outside the new council offices on Devonport Rd and sported signs asking council to 'stop the spend' and 'respect ratepayers'. The rally was not the end but a platform for people to share their concerns, Gyenge said. Last week the council heard from submitters on its Annual Plan for 2025/26. The plan received 968 written submissions and 96 people asked to speak to the council directly. The council would deliberate on its Annual Plan on May 26. Mayor Mahé Drysdale previously said the plan tried to strike a balance between investing in the city and affordability for ratepayers. The council had already found $29m in savings to get to 12%, and was working to find more to get the final number down to 10% or lower. - LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
NZ Herald
20-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Tauranga rally urges city council to cut rates amid proposed 12% hike
The crowd stopped outside the new council offices on Devonport Rd and sported signs asking council to 'stop the spend' and 'respect ratepayers'. The rally was not the end but a platform for people to share their concerns, Gyenge said. Last week the council heard from submitters on its Annual Plan for 2025/26. The plan received 968 written submissions and 96 people asked to speak to the council directly. The council would deliberate on its Annual Plan on May 26. Mayor Mahé Drysdale previously said the plan tried to strike a balance between investing in the city and affordability for ratepayers. The council had already found $29m in savings to get to 12%, and was working to find more to get the final number down to 10% or lower.
NZ Herald
16-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Residents rally against Tauranga rates increase, demand spending cuts
It was 4.8 times inflation of 2.5%, which was 'unconscionable,' Gyenge said. 'People are doing it really tough, it's just not sustainable.' The rally wasn't about asking the councillors to listen, but expecting them to act differently when they voted on expenditure, Gyenge said. She said she wanted them to reduce their appetite for spending. 'It's about the whole organisation becoming lean and mean and fully efficient with absolutely no wasted cents at all.' Gyenge looked at the council's financials and said finding an extra $40m in savings would avoid the need to increase residential rates. Mayor Mahé Drysdale told her during an Annual Plan submission hearing it would take $80m in savings to avoid a rates rise. Gyenge said the rally was needed to draw the community together and provide an outlet for people unable to take part in the hearings. 'It's not an isolated event. It's the beginning of the community saying 'this is what we think'. It'll be a platform for the community.' Consultation on the council's draft Annual Plan ran from March 28 to April 28. Hearings for submitters were on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tim Maltby, chairman of Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association, said there was a lot of worry and anger in the community about council spending and rates increases. Most people's wages increased in line with inflation at about 3% but a rates increase of 12% was unaffordable, he said. 'We believe that the council vastly overspends. 'If council was reorganised and restructured so that it was running properly and doing its job properly, there would be no need for a rates increase.' It was 'totally unrealistic' to expect a zero rates increase this year, Maltby said. 'If the elected members wanted to, they could force a restructure that would drastically reduce costs and it would be quite feasible to have a 0% rates increase [in future].' Drysdale said the Annual Plan tried to strike a balance between investing in the city and affordability for ratepayers. 'The real challenge is we have a huge infrastructure deficit. We've got to be mindful of that when we're prioritising our money.' The council found $29m in savings to lower the rates rise from 20% to 12%, he said. The councillors had given the organisation direction to reduce costs across its operations to keep rates down, Drysdale said. Disestablishing 100 roles was part of this, he said. 'I can assure the people of Tauranga that elected members are working hard to find savings, which would reduce the average rates increase for 2025/26 to 10%, or lower.' To achieve a 0% residential rates rise, $80m in savings would need to be found, he said. 'Taking $80m out of a business our size in one year is actually nigh impossible.' Feedback the council received during the Annual Plan consultation ranged from people saying facilities were not meeting the needs of the community to concern about rates, Drysdale said. There were 968 written submissions and 96 people asked to speak at the hearings. Final decisions would be made after Annual Plan deliberations on May 26, he said.
