Auckland City Mayor John Banks is disappointed at the Prime Minister's "closed mind" on the latest proposal for government help on the leaky building issues.
Mr Banks and Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast are seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Helen Clark, Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Building andConstruction Minister Shane Jones on a plan by the mayors of 14 cities to get the Government to help bail out owners of leaky buildings.
Under the plan, homeowners would be asked to pay no more than 25 per cent of the repair costs, with the Government and councils agreeing to split the remaining costs under a formula yet to be negotiated.
Councils would still be able to chase developers, buildings firms, architects and anyone else involved for a share of the total repair bill, estimated to be upwards of $2.1 billion.
Helen Clark said the Government did not have $1 billion to spend on covering councils' liability in relation to leaky home claims.
"We have no liability whatsoever as taxpayers or the Crown. The councils certainly do have liability. The homeowner is completely the innocent party in this," she told TVNZ's Breakfast programme on Monday.
She said the Government had set up a process to mediate in leaky home disputes, but councils would have to pay if they had made mistakes.
Mr Banks said the Weathertightness Resolution Service had failed to deliver. It was costly, took too long and because of the law of the last man standing, councils were bearing an unacceptably high burden.
"The leaky homes crisis is a human tragedy that transcends construction problems. It has become a major factor in mortgage sales and personal bankruptcies, social issues and health problems," he said.
The leaky building crisis is also hurting Auckland City, with a swelling number of claims.
Mr Banks and his Citizens & Ratepayers campaigned at last year's election to open the books and fully inform ratepayers about all facets of the leaky building problem.
He said yesterday the problem was set to cost ratepayers up to $500 million, but had not produced any documentation to back up this figure.
Mr Banks said if he and Ms Prendergast did not get a more meaningful response from the Government, he would make leaky homes an election issue.
