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Jo Holmes
Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance
www.ratepayers.nz
With the Super City plunged into yet another Level 3 lockdown, we are already hearing Councillors trying to argue that this justifies more increases to rates. It’s time Mayor Phil Goff and his colleagues faced the reality that this pandemic isn’t going away. Auckland can almost certainly expect to go through multiple lockdowns during 2021, and businesses and households will continue to get hit.
Aucklanders are making sacrifices. We say the Council should too. In the coming weeks, Auckland Council will be consulting on its 10-year budget. Right now, Mr Goff wants to lock in yet another “one-off” five per cent increase to your rates, while Watercare is proposing to double your water bill over the next decade (that’s $100 per month in extra water charges for every Auckland household!).
I don’t know about you but I am tired of politicians going unchallenged in this current economic environment. Instead of the Council crying poverty while it pays more than 2,800 staff salaries higher than $100,000, and forging ahead with gold-plated cycleway projects and nice-to-haves, it should be cutting back on low priority spending and reprioritising the money.
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