Ratepayers' Alliance releases 2019 Voting Guide

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has now released its voting guide for the 2019 Mayoral and Council elections, showing who has signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge.

The Pledge is a cast iron promise to Auckland ratepayers. It states that:

“I will not vote for any measures which increase the total average burden of rates, levies including the regional fuel tax, and other compulsory Council charges, by more than 2% per annum in aggregate.”

Mayoral candidates that have signed the Pledge:

• ✔️ Susanna Kruger
• ✔️ Craig Lord
• ✔️ John Tamihere
• ✔️ ️Glen Snelgar
• ✔️ ️Peter Vaughan

Incumbent ❌Phil Goff and all other Mayoral candidates have refused to sign the Pledge.

Council candidates that have signed the Pledge:

• ✔️ Anne Degia-Pala (Whau)
• ✔️ Will Maxwell-Steele (Waitemata and Gulf)
• ✔️ Sharon Stewart (Howick)
• ✔️ Veronica Turner (Manurewa-Papakura)

While ✔️Christine Fletcher (Albert-Eden-Roskill) and ✔️Tracy Mulholland (Whau) are this year bound by C&R’s refusal to allow its candidates to sign campaign pledges, they have each given the Alliance a personal assurance that they would not in any case support rates increases above 2%.

Who kept their promise from the 2016 Pledge?

The exact wording of the 2016 Pledge was: “I [candidate’s name] pledge to all Aucklanders that I will not vote for any measures which increase the total average burden of rates, levies, and other compulsory Council charges, more than 2% per annum.”

Six current Councillors signed the Pledge in 2016:

• ✔️✔️ Sharon Stewart signed the Pledge, and successfully held to it. She has signed again in 2019.
• ✔️✔️ Christine Fletcher signed the Pledge, and successfully held to it. She has committed to a rates freeze in 2019.
• ✔️ Greg Sayers signed the Pledge, and successfully held to it. He has not signed in 2019. He has been elected unopposed.
• ✔️ Mike Lee signed the Pledge, and successfully held to it. He has not signed in 2019.
• ❌ Desley Simpson signed the Pledge, but broke it.
• ❌ Wayne Walker signed the Pledge, but broke it.
• ❌ John Watson signed the Pledge, but broke it.

What about the other candidates?

If a Mayoral or Council candidate is not named above, then they have not signed the Pledge.