Dr Tim Maltby For Council

Tauranga Mayor

Papamoa Ward Councillor

Council Debt

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by

Dr Tim Maltby
in

Tauranga Council has the highest debt per capita in New Zealand (see the below chart).

These figures have been prepared by John Robson (Johns Website). Total council debt including off the books IFF debt is estimated at around $3 billion by 2034. The graph below shows the estimated debt, $2.5 billion by 2030.

The debt graph above is taken from Glen Crowther at Sustainable BOP (Glen’s website). Some of the debt and other issues that the commissioners have left for the incoming council are listed below (includes items from Glen Crowther SBOP).

  • TCC already has a worse debt situation than Christchurch
  • TCC’s debt is likely to increase to $1.55 billion by June 2026
  • There’s an additional $177 million ‘off the books’ IFF debt
  • There is likely to be even more ‘off the books’ debt to come
  • There’s currently $2.2 billion shortfall in 3 waters funding to 2034
  • Even if that $2.2 billion is included, TCC isn’t planning to fund “all necessary” 3 waters infrastructure
  • Commissioner Tolley has stated Tauranga’s transport plan has an additional $4 billion of currently unfunded transport infrastructure
  • Tauranga’s residential rates are already the highest of any NZ city (well above Christchurch and higher even than Auckland)
  • The marine precinct has secretly been sold.

Infrastructure Funding and Finance (IFF), is an alternative way for councils to borrow money over their debt limit, but at a higher interest rate. The IFF loans are funded by targeted rates.

Comments

2 responses to “Council Debt”

  1. Dan Russell Avatar
    Dan Russell

    Hi Tim,
    These figures (in the billions) are meaningless to most of us.
    We don’t really understand why we need another $4 billions for our transport plan when our roads would be, if maintained properly, adequate for the number of people using them. Our engineering staff haven’t bothered auditing the traffic lights for rational timing when there is a huge difference between peak hours and off peak hours.
    I see no mention (in your blog) of the enormous sums paid to the “leaky apartment “ people. These millions have been handed out to owners with little explanation to ratepayers of why the council should accept responsibility for the problem. Obviously councils staff are blamed for signing off work when it hasn’t been inspected. No heads roll, no apologies given. My impression is that the last 3 claims have exceeded $60 million in total.
    Keep up the good work.
    Dan.

    Reply
    1. Dr Tim Maltby Avatar
      Dr Tim Maltby

      dan hi

      thanks for your comment.

      there are lots of things I haven’t mentioned – the list is as long as a piece of string – how long do you want it?

      the leaky building is ongoing and maybe that should be reviewed as well – there is a limit to what can be done. my understanding is that there is a general agreement between the councils and the government over leaky building payouts. they have certainly cost council (ratepayers) huge amounts of money.

      Reply

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