Taxpayers’ Union slams eye-watering Hastings rates hike

Responding to reports that Hastings District Council is set to hike rates by 25 percent, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“We get that cyclone recovery and investing in resilient infrastructure will obviously be front of mind but the Council must ensure that it does not make the process more painful than it needs to be by using the cyclone as a shield to justify eye-watering rates hikes when there is still plenty of fat to trim.

“Many families are still dealing with the effects of the cyclone too. Hiking rates by an eye-watering 25% is simply unthinkable. With the council spending $9 million more on staff salaries compared to 2019 and more than a quarter of its staff earning above $100,000 per year, there is plenty of room for back office savings rather than heaping extra costs onto struggling ratepayers.

“After doing everything possible to cut back the size of the rates hike, the council must ensure that every cent goes into core service delivery, rather than expensive vanity projects like its recent $70,000 logo redesign.