The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Selwyn District Council for proposing a 16% rate hike in the first stage of a cumulative 45.89% rates hike over three years.

“Yet again we are seeing a council completely fail to be prudent with its spending proposals, and is now asking its already-burdened ratepayers for an extra arm and a leg to bail them out,” Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says.

“From a council that just last year was able to keep its rates increase under the level of inflation to now looking at dropping double-digit rate hikes for the next three successive years is an unacceptable turn of events that has blind-sided Selwyn’s ratepayers.

“The council should be tightening their belt like households all across the district are forced to do when costs rise. This includes trimming the fat in the Council’s back office bureaucracy, letting go of gold-plated vanity projects and seriously considering the sale of under-utilised or unnecessary assets.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is throwing its weight behind calls for the powers of Tauranga’s unelected Commissioners to be curtailed in the run-up to the return of democracy to the city, and urges Local Government Minister Simeon Brown to step in.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Unelected Commissioners in Tauranga have spent years tossing around ratepayers’ money with reckless abandon, all safe in the knowledge that they will never be accountable to the rate-paying public.

“Although it is three-and-a-half years too late, democracy will be returning to Tauranga this year; the Commissioners cannot be allowed to put that in jeopardy. The long-term plan will set the city’s course for the next decade, and this must only be decided by the elected representatives of Tauranga residents.

“We’re already seeing the damage at a national level that an outgoing government can inflict by signing long-term contracts that they know will be overturned. This is damaging to both business confidence and to the public’s back pockets, and this cannot be allowed to be inflicted on the city by Commissioners without an electoral mandate.”

Commenting on Christchurch City Council’s plans to bid to host the Commonwealth Games, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said: 

“Mayor Phil Mauger wants to show the world that Christchurch is back on its feet. But he’d be better off proving this to Christchurch residents first. 

“With the Council group neck deep in around $25,000 in debt per residential ratepayer and expected rates rises well into the double figures, Christchurch is in no position to be throwing billions of dollars in ratepayers’ hard-earned money into the wind on games which have already been canned across the ditch for proving far too expensive.

“Whilst core infrastructure like the Pages Road Bridge is still to be fully repaired following the earthquake, the Council even considering wasting billions on exorbitant vanity projects is an insult to the residents who have worked so hard to bring their city back from the brink.” 

Waitaki District Council has approved the $32 million Network Waitaki Events Centre in Oamaru, despite lacking a sound funding plan.

The Council has pledged $15 million to the project, which when combined with the input of some outsider funding, still leaves a $2.7 million shortfall as well as an additional unfunded $4 million for the second stage of the project.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Waitaki District Council have now decided to rush headfirst into the Event Centre project with next to no regard for those pesky things called finances. Given their current financial position, this will likely mean borrowing at high interest rates and figuring out the details later.

“The Waitaki Ratepayers & Residents Association have been calling on their council from the beginning to come up with a workable plan that does not involve demands for ratepayers to foot the bill. No one will be shocked to learn that calls to put the back pockets of ratepayers first are falling on deaf ears.

“With 20% of staff on salaries above $100,000 and an annual consultant and contractor bill of over $34 million, rather than lumping ratepayers with this enormous bill in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis the Council must instead cut back on its bureaucratic bloat.”

Waipā District Council has set the hands of fiscal irresponsibility spinning with the historic town clock refurbishment in Cambridge. Originally budgeted at a modest $450,000, this project has wound up to an astounding $721,000.

Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers’ Union, Oliver Bryan, said, “The Council seems to be aiming for a Guinness World Record in money burning. We’re not just talking about tightening a few screws here – this is the Big Ben of budget blunders.

“It would take several ratepayer lifetimes, about 225 years, to cover the cost of this towering mistake. It’s almost as if the Council expects residents to pay a ‘time tax’ spanning centuries, a fiscal legacy that outlasts the very clock they’re attempting to preserve.

“This isn’t just a wake-up call; it’s a siren. It’s high time the Council reset its priorities. This is not just a blow to the budget; it’s a blow to the trust that the community places in the council to manage their rates wisely.

“The Council needs to wind back this project and rethink their approach before Waipā ratepayers find themselves with higher rates and a never-ending debt spiral.”

The Taxpayer’s Union is today welcoming Local Government Minister Simeon Brown’s announcement that the Government will scrap Three Waters in the new year but says there is still work to be done to ensure that its replacement protects property rights, ensures sustainable investment and infrastructure and removes undemocratic co-governance.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“We have spent the better part of two years campaigning to stop Three Waters including a nationwide roadshow, more than 100,000 petition signatures and almost 70,000 submissions to the select committee. The announcement to repeal Three Waters is a welcome one, the Department of Internal Affairs should immediately halt all work relating to Three Waters in order to prevent further wastage of taxpayers’ money.

“But there is still work to be done. The Taxpayers’ Union’s technical advisory group, chaired by Malcolm Alexander has been working hard drafting replacement legislation, which will be presented to the Minister in the near future. There is no point repealing Three Waters if its replacement is just a watered-down version of Labour’s proposal. We encourage the Minister to engage constructively with those in the local government sector and experts, including our Technical Advisory Group.

“While we remain optimistic, we will not rest until we see Three Waters repealed and a workable replacement has been passed through all stages of the house.”

Responding to news that Wellington City Councillors have voted down a proposal to reduce business rates in the capital, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“When Mayor Tory Whanau comes out with a line like ‘I couldn’t in good conscience allow the cost to be put on households’, ratepayers know she’s just blowing hot air. Whanau has never had any qualms whatsoever lumbering the extortionate costs of her vanity projects on hardworking Wellington families.

“Take a town hall revamp costing every household over $4,000. Where were her objections then? Or where were they for the billions being wasted on Let’s Get Wellington Moving?

“Between some of the highest business rates in the country relative to residential rates and the inability for companies to navigate WCC’s byzantine bureaucracy, the costs of doing business in Wellington are exorbitant. When prices jump as a result, who does the Mayor think pays?

“Business rates and residential rates both need to come down to breathe some life back into the struggling city, but that can only happen once the Council stops burning billions on wasteful pet projects.”

Responding to Hamilton City Council’s decision to spend $700,000 moving and re-developing a bus stop due to its location outside an adult toy store, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Only a couple of weeks ago, Hamilton City Council advised that they were looking to make savings to slash debt and finally balance the books. If the Council was actually serious about righting the ship, they wouldn’t spend a moment considering this outlandish upgrade. Sadly, it’s clear that Hamilton City’s councillors are completely unwilling to do anything more than pay lip service to fiscal restraint.

“While the relocation of the bus stop may be justified given the backlash from where it is currently situated, the problems were easily foreseeable and it should never have been built there in the first place. The Council could quite easily repaint a few road markings and dig a new hole for the sign at next to no extra cost. Instead, Hamilton ratepayers are being forced to needlessly funnel money into what has turned out to be a laughably costly makeover.

“Even with cuts to maintenance and cleaning budgets, the mayor has signalled that an enormous 25.5% rate hike will still be required to whip Hamilton’s finances back into shape. It’s abundantly clear from vanity projects like these that there is still plenty of waste to axe first before the Council starts hacking away at core services.”

Responding to Wellington city’s earthquake-strengthening crisis, which sees the city on track to upgrade just 20% of vulnerable buildings, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Hundreds of millions of dollars are being burnt upgrading earthquake-prone buildings, whether the owners want to keep the building or not. Heritage status binds the hands of owners, giving them no choice but to sink unbelievable amounts of capital into non-profitable projects.

“In dozens of cases, the owner is Wellington City Council itself. For just one example, a town hall described as of “dubious merit both historically and architecturally” is draining up to $329 million of ratepayers’ money on a gold-plated revamp at a time where billions in savings are needed to repair years of negligence to critical water infrastructure.

“Neither private owners nor cash-strapped ratepayers should be forced into exorbitant vanity projects such as these against their will. Councils must have the ability to de-list heritage buildings where preserving these is not in the public interest.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Hastings District Councillor Damon Harvey to be reinstated in his committee chair role and the councillors to instead hold a vote of no confidence in the Mayor following revelations that he was stripped of his role after acknowledging the existence of a secret document.

The document referred to the council’s “normal practice” of dealing with complaints by “shutting up shop”, “ignoring” and to “await litigation”.

Responding to the news, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The council has clearly been caught out by one of its own for trying to avoid transparency and accountability by hiding behind a veil of secrecy.

“Damon Harvey is a ratepayer hero for revealing this information, he should be held up in praise, not stripped of his position.

“Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst has been caught out and her only defence is to go on the offensive and use fear to keep councillors quiet. The elected representatives must not forget whom they represent and hold a vote of no confidence in the Mayor to ensure that ratepayers get the accountability and transparency they deserve.”