In My Opinion: Cr Greg Sayers

1 April 2022. Over the month of March Auckland Council has been collecting public feedback on its proposed 3.5% rates increase, increases to its fees and charges, and the introduction of a climate action targeted rate.

While the average general rates rise is proposed to be 3.5 percent, the new Climate Action Targeted Rate of 2.4 percent will increase the average annual bill by nearly 6 percent.

Auckland Council’s latest property valuations were also released last month showing a 34 percent increase in the region’s average house value.

The latest figures reflect the estimated price a property would have sold for on June 1 last year compared to the last council valuation in 2017.

Valuations were meant to take place in 2020, but were delayed because of COVID.

Rodney recorded an average increase of 37 percent, which is above the 34 percent average, indicating the average rates increase for Rodney households will be higher than many other areas of Auckland.

The proposed new climate change tax will raise another $574 million over the next 10 years from ratepayerโ€™s pockets. Auckland Council already has a current budget of $152 million dedicated for climate change mitigation. The $574 million is primarily intended to be spent on electrifying ferries and city buses, building more cycleways in the CBD, and planting trees in South Auckland.

Whether you believe the effect of wetter winters and dryer summers are the result of manmade pollution or part of a notarial global cycle l๐จ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐›๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ž๐š ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž, ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐Š๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฎ ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐›๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐›๐š๐ง๐ค๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ž๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฉ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐š๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ก ๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ค ๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐œ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ฅ ๐ง๐ž๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ ๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ซ๐จ๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ง ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐›๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ.

If the new tax is approved, spending of the climate action tax on ๐ฅ๐จ๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ญ. I will continue to fight for our fair share to fully and properly address the effects of climate change locally. However, all of these “fixes”, I believe, should be being paid for from the General rates as part of the Council’s normal daily business.

The other proposed increases in Council fees and charges highlights the increasing level of dissatisfaction from ratepayers regarding Auckland Councilโ€™s planning processes.

Primary concerns are the time it takes to get a resource consent and the cost in Council fees. These come from across the board, whether people are adding a veranda, building a simple shed or planning multi-million dollar developments.

Question. Has it now reached a point where an independent commissioner should be appointed to fix Auckland Councilโ€™s internal processes?

Such an extreme intervention would have to be initiated by the Government.

This isnโ€™t just a Rodney problem, but is happening across the whole of Auckland. Many people state that Aucklandโ€™s processes are too pedantic compared to that of other councils.

Compounding the problem is experienced staff are leaving for lucrative government salaries with Kainga Ora (Housing New Zealand), but the internal council processes have not adapted to cope. Inexperienced staff are left under enormous pressure.

At the same time, resource applications are skyrocketing due to housing demand. Also Government legislative changes, which require a response from Council staff, are further draining the already diminished staff resources.