2021 Ratepayers' Report proves Auckland Council needs to cut rates

The 2021 edition of Ratepayers’ Report confirms that Auckland Council is charging the second highest rates in the country, with an average bill of $3,599 per rating unit.
 
Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says, “There is no good justification for Auckland’s disproportionately high rates. Higher rates are not and should not be seen as inevitable. Auckland Council should be taking cues from more efficient councils to ease the burden on ratepayers.”
 
“The average residential rate for Auckland is now $3,599, more than $1,000 greater than the average nationwide average residential rate of $2,572. This is an increase of $130 from last year, compared to the nationwide average of $111.”
 
“In fact, Auckland Council's rates bills are now so high that Wellington and Christchurch City Councils are more than $800 cheaper than Auckland's. Smaller rural councils, such as Buller District charge half what Phil Goff's Council charges us.”
 
“The formation of the Super City was supposed to save ratepayers money. But where is the efficiency that was promised? Rates are a payment for services, and Aucklanders definitely aren't getting value for money.”
 
“Other findings from the Ratepayers’ Report make for concerning reading and go some way toward explaining why we pay so much in rates. 3,161 Council staff are paid more than $100,000 – that’s an increase of 330 people in 12 months. And the Council has been spending $811 per household just paying down the interest on its debt.”
 
“Mayor Phil Goff has also maxed out the credit card. The Council's liabilities now totals $29,611 for every Auckland household – and that doesn't even include the effects of Phil Goff's "emergency budget" last year, or the more recently approved 10-year budget.”