Hundreds are calling for a rates freeze in Tauranga, but the city's mayor says he won't look at that option as it could jeopardise Government funding.
The Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association has been campaigning for a zero rates increase - something several New Zealand councils are pursuing because ofCovid-19.
In an online poll by the association, 93 per cent of 967 respondents wanted no residential rates increase in the next financial year.
Comments included calls for the council to "get real", consider those struggling after Covid-19 or on low fixed incomes, and cut its own expenses.
Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Philip Brown. Photo / File
Association chairman Philip Brown said the poll was a "good sampling" and comments showed ratepayers did not understand why a rates increase was needed. He said the council should show in detail how rates would be spent.
Mayor Tenby Powell said the council needed to cut its cloth but a zero rates increase "won't be something that I'm going to look at".
He said central Government ministers had made it clear councils needed to "pony up" if they wanted co-funding partnerships.
Powell pointed to comments Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford made to Waikato local government leaders about partnerships last month.
"If you deliberately cut your revenue by scaling back rates increases, or going for zero rates, or cutting rates, how can I stand up with my colleagues and make the case that we should be investing alongside you," Twyford said, according to Stuff.
Urban development minister Phil Twyford. Photo / File
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta have been asked in Parliament about Twyford's comments.
Ardern said it was ultimately a matter for councils but they still needed to deliver projects and services.
Mahuta said councils "would need to think very carefully about the forecast revenue for the 2020-21 period before they consider cutting rates or having zero rates".
"If they want successful partnerships, we suggest, as a Government, that they consider all the information before cutting rates or holding them — freezing them — at zero."
Twyford told NZME this week that a partnership between local and central Government was required to "grow and build 21st century infrastructure, with modern transport networks and plenty of housing" in the Bay of Plenty.
Councils needed revenue to borrow money for infrastructure.
"The rate of borrowing available to councils means that every dollar cut reduces the amount you can invest by $2.50."
Powell this week welcomed news the Local Government Funding Agency was considering increasing the amount council's could borrow from 2.5 times its revenue to 3 times revenue.
Tauranga's council was coming hard up against the 2.5 limit even before the Covid-19 downturn, which is expected to slash more than $40m in revenue from the council's books next year. A rates freeze would cut another $13m.
The council was reviewing its operating costs, current and planned capital projects, and options for providing targeted rates relief to those who may struggle to pay.
'Knee-jerk response': Councillor deletes zero rates post
First-term Tauranga city councillor Heidi Hughes says she deleted a Facebook post supporting a zero rates increase after realising it was a "knee-jerk response".
Hughes, who had previously backed the council's pre-pandemic proposed rates increase of 12.7 per cent, posted on her councillor page on April 15: "I support zero rates rise, pause on growth projects and a 20 per cent salary drop for ems. We're in this together."
She told the Bay of Plenty Times she later deleted the post after realising it was "not well thought out".
She said it came after seeing the pain in the community caused by Covid-19 and feeling "helpless" as to what the council could do.
Since then, she had learned how the council could target rates relief to those who needed it, and help stimulate the economy through its spending.
She had not yet settled on a position on rates, and was waiting for more information from council staff, including about what a rates freeze could look like.
