Phil Goff and Auckland Council are trying to box in rate options as either 3.5% or 2.5% by instructing officials not to include a 0% (rates freeze) option in any of the consultation material and advertising.
The Ratepayers’ Alliance have been in a battle with the Council over a report their researchers have been preparing: the ‘Auckland Town Hall Rich List’ naming the 86 – yes 86! – Auckland Council bosses paid more than a quarter of a million dollars.
To put that in context, if the Minister of Employment, Hon. Willie Jackson, was paid by Auckland Council his remuneration would be too low to put him on the list.
If Auckland Council officials are going to be paid more than Ministers in Wellington, at the very least Aucklanders should know who they are and what they do! After all, it is Auckland ratepayer money that they are paid with.
The Auckland Council is going to extraordinary lengths to prevent the Ratepayers Alliance from publishing the report.
The Mayor’s office is ringing around the media demanding that no one cover it, are getting their favoured journos to try and rubbish our efforts in advance of publication, and now we understand they are even calling in the lawyers!
Think about that for a moment. Auckland Council are using ratepayers money to prevent ratepayers being told where their money is going.
The Council says that the report is “an unacceptable intrusion into the privacy” of council bosses. The Ratepayers Alliance says that once you are pocketing more than a Cabinet Minister, ratepayers have the right know about it.
