Tauranga is struggling because of unaffordable rates. Under the long term plan, rates are set to become even more unaffordable. I have started this petition to put a rates cap on council. Please sign the petition here, and pass it on.
The petition:
We the undersigned petition the Council to:
- Make ratepayer affordability a requirement for all council decisions.
- Adopt a 3% cap on rates increases (including growth, water and levies etc) for the 2025/26 annual plan and all following years of the LTP.
- Adopt a balanced or surplus operating budget.
- Adopt a debt repayment plan.
- Perform a deep restructure of the council organisation, and related entities.
- Perform a deep review of council spending, funding, financing and debt, and revise spending priorities.
- Stop dodgy developer deals.
- Fix the procurement and contracting processes.
- Charge developers the full cost of growth capex.
- Properly investigate and fix anomalies, and hold staff and elected members accountable.
- Drastically improve transparency.
- Hold staff and elected members accountable for compliance with council policies and processes.
Council will vigorously oppose the petition because it will force them to stop wasting our money. It requires that council reforms itself, and how it spends our money. Councils via Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) oppose rates cap on the grounds that they will limit spending on infrastructure (LGNZ Press Release). LGNZ has also come up with some alternative proposals (LGNZ Press Release ).
Local Government New Zealand president Sam Broughton commented that.
Rate capping is an artificial way of trying to limit costs for communities without having the true conversation about what is the real impact of that over the medium and long term.
Rate capping is a blunt instrument to try and force councils to spend wisely. A limit on income is a limit on spending. Most New Zealanders live with that same blunt instrument, a limit on our income, which should correspond to a limit on our spending. That is not to say that all New Zealanders act wisely, but in the long term, there are very adverse results if we do not match income and spending.
Councils are the same, but they have the luxury of being able to arbitrarily raise rates. A cap on rates increases should force councils to restructure their organisations, change their spending priorities, and rethink how they run their operations.
Some councils, with the right leadership, would be able to do this. It would not be an instant or easy process. It would require many years of hard work, and leadership. Nothing much will happen without leadership from the elected members, and the senior management team.
Most councils, probably including Tauranga, would try and continue the same as before, and merely cut projects to save money. That is the easy, and ineffective way out, and displays a total lack of leadership. After doing that for several years, they will then turn around and loudly proclaim:
Look, we told you so. Rate caps don’t work. We need to get back to spend spend spend.
That is not what Tauranga needs. The purpose of this petition is to put pressure on the elected members and the senior management to think about the well being and financial stability of residents. Continuing with the massive rates increases is not sustainable for our community. It will eventually reduce Tauranga to poverty and destroy the city.
We need leadership for Tauranga. So far this has been lacking. The marine precinct debacle highlighted that the elected members and senior management do not want to take leadership. They merely want to try and cover up behind themselves. The Mayor has repeatedly stated that he does not want to look backwards and investigate what has happened. They have been forced to merely react to outside intervention instead of taking the lead.
In reality it will be a very difficult task to change the direction that Tauranga is on. Perhaps, if enough people sign this petition, they will pretend to listen. Maybe not. But whatever happens, it is very important that we make our voice heard, and if they don’t listen, then we will try again.
It may even be that change will come via the government. The government is exploring ways to limit rates increases. That will be even more of a blunt instrument. It would be far better for councils and ratepayers if councils show leadership, and take action on their own initiative.
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