News

Auckland Council blows almost $100K on survey to show their incompetency

Auckland Council wasted $90,000 on the Citizens Insights Monitor which, ironically, revealed what everyone already knew: that almost half of Aucklanders do not trust the Council to make the right decisions and only a tiny minority (15 per cent) of Aucklanders are satisfied with the Council’s performance.

If the Council wanted to know how unpopular they are, they could have picked up a newspaper, not paid tens of thousands for another report. Instead of wasting money on canvassing whether Aucklanders mistrust them, the Council should be focused on providing good services to their local community.

It is no coincidence that the demographic who rated Council’s reputation poorly were those who voted in elections and who paid rates. Amongst the majority of the 15 percent who rated the Council highly were those who did not pay rates.

This Council has failed ratepayers. That is why the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling on candidates to sign our Ratepayer Protection Pledge, and ensure sensible spending that provides good services.

The figures were obtained by the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and reveal that the $90,000 was mainly spent on project design, marketing and analytics, with the purpose of ensuring the Council can meet the needs of all Auckland residents.

The key findings of the survey were:

• 15 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the council’s performance, while 36 percent were dissatisfied

• 17 percent of respondents say they trust the council to make the right decision, while 47 percent do not

• Residents who live closer to the city centre and those in South Auckland tend to rate the council more highly than those who live further out

• The council’s baseline reputational score sits at 45 out of a total of 100 points

• In the Rodney ward, the reputational score was only 36 out of 100

The Council's full response can be downloaded here.

Council candidate list released

With nominations closing on Friday, Auckland Council has now formally released the list of candidates for next month's election. As our team lobbies and sign-ups candidates to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, we will be updating this list.

The Ratepayer Protection pledge states:

“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.”

Of you are a candidate and would like to complete the pledge, you can download it here.  To guarantee inclusion in our hard copy leaflets, please scan the completed pledge to [email protected] no later than 5pm Friday 20 August.

Two more candidates on board with Ratepayer Protection Pledge

Following last week’s announcement that nine candidates intend to sign the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance Ratepayer Protection Pledge, two further candidates have confirmed their intention to sign.
 
Councillor Dick Quax is standing again for the Howick ward and has committed to the Pledge. So has Holly Southernwood who is seeking election to Council in the Rodney ward.
 
The Ratepayer Protection Pledge guarantees that they will not vote for any rate or levy hikes exceeding 2% per year in the next Council term. The addition of Quax and Southernwood brings the total number of committed candidates to 11.

Still no Auckland Future! 

There is still no sign of commitment to the Pledge from any candidates from the National Party-aligned Auckland Future. The group have said that their existing policy is consistent with the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, yet they are unwilling to put their money where their mouth is and sign it.
 
Auckland Future should demonstrate that they really mean what they say about cutting waste, and sign up to the Ratepayers’ Protection Pledge.

Which candidates are on board? 

As of today (9^th August), eleven candidates have confirmed their intention to sign the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge": 

- Mark Thomas (Mayoral candidate)

- John Palino (Mayoral candidate)

- John Watson (Albany)

- Christine Fletcher (Albert-Eden-Roskill)

- Sharon Stewart (Howick)

- Dick Quax (Howick)

- Holly Southernwood (Rodney)

- John Riddell (Waitākere)

- Mike Lee (Waitematā and Gulf)

- Bill Ralston (Waitematā and Gulf)

- Anne Degia-Pala (Whau)

First round of candidates sign Ratepayer Protection Pledge

The first round of candidates have confirmed their intention to sign the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" guaranteeing that they will not vote for any rate or levy hikes exceeding 2% per year in the next Council term.

As of today (3 August), signed pledges or commitments to sign have been received from the following candidates:

• Mark Thomas (Mayoral candidate)
• John Palino (Mayoral candidate)
• John Watson (Albany)
• Christine Fletcher (Albert-Eden-Roskill)
• Sharon Stewart (Howick)
• John Riddell (Waitākere)
• Mike Lee (Waitematā and Gulf)
• Bill Ralston (Waitematā and Gulf)
• Anne Degia-Pala (Whau)

Unsurprisingly many of the ‘terrible ten’ – those who waved through Len Brown’s 9.9% rates hike last year – have not signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. They will be featuring in How to Vote guides which will be delivered throughout Auckland in the lead up to voting along with those who have signed the Pledge.

This campaign is designed to help Aucklanders identify who stands for more Council waste and empire building, and who stands for reasonable rates and sensible spending. Too often politicians get away with talking the talk, but not walking the walk when it comes to living within their means and keeping rates reasonable.

So where is Auckland Future?

So far candidates standing under the National Party-aligned Auckland Future brand have been obfuscating when we ask about their position on rates. Representatives from the group said their existing policy and ‘pledge’ is entirely consistent with the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, but nevertheless are unwilling to sign up to it.

Auckland Future are either all talk and no trousers, or do not really intend to stand up for ratepayers once they are elected. Either way, they should get on board, sign the pledge, and demonstrate to Aucklanders that they really mean what they say about cutting waste out of the Super City.

About the Pledge

The Ratepayer Protection Pledge reads:

“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.”

If you are a candidate and would like to sign the pledge, download it here, and return it to us by scanning it to email [ enquiries (at) ratepayers.nz ] or sending a signed hard copy to PO Box 133099, Eastridge, Auckland 1146 so that it reaches us before 5pm 20 August 2016.

Together we defeated the Taniwha Tax

The most significant victory to date for the Ratepayers’ Alliance!

Last year we joined our sister group, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, with Democracy Action and the Auckland Property Investors Association to launch a joint “Taniwha Tax” campaign and briefing paper on Auckland Council’s Mana Whenua Cultural Impact Assessment provisions in its draft unitary plan.

Yesterday, the Independent Hearings Panel, which was tasked with reviewing all aspects of the draft plan, reported back.

The Panel has recommended that all of the provisions we cited – the cultural impact assessment requirements and the 3,600 ‘sites of value’ be deleted from the plan!

This win means:

1. The 3,600 sites (affecting around 18,000 properties) are deleted from the Unitary Plan
2. No more onerous ‘cultural impact assessments'
3. No more consulting with up to a dozen iwi groups before the Council will approve your resource consent
4. Auckland Council must go through a robust process and prove a site has real cultural or historic value before new ‘culturally valuable’ sites are scheduled
5. Auckland Council must show that a particular site is culturally valuable – it's no longer up to homeowners to prove their site is not
6. The Taniwha Tax is less likely to spread to other councils across New Zealand

The Panel completely rejected the Council’s recommendations for even more onerous requirements relating to Cultural Impact Assessments (the Council wanted to require these for all consents near the sites, rather than just those where a Mana Whenua group believe their cultural values are impacted).

How we did it

This win shows the value of our campaigns. Along with the campaign exposing the Council publicly (and building popular opposition) we joined with the other groups to oppose and fight the provisions behind the scenes.  We succeeded because we ensured the politics supported the rational arguments being made to the Independent Panel.

Here is a summary of the relevant report by the Panel. In short, it not only picks up our joint recommendations, it goes further and confirms what we suspected all along: Auckland Council never bothered to verify whether the sites were indeed valuable; or that they even existed.

Assuming the Councillors adopt the Panel’s recommendations (though the legislative framework makes it hard for them not to) the Taniwha Tax is dead! 

Intensification

The Panel’s recommendations provide for an estimated 422,000 new houses over the next 30 years. 270,000 will come from within the existing urban boundary and 152,000 in areas currently outside the boundary.

In terms of the changes the Council tried to sneakily slip in at the last minute – the changes that proposed intensification for areas which were never consulted on the proposals – the Panel appears to have compromised. We are still taking advice and working through the detail.

Who decides from here?

Later today Councillors will decide whether the final Unitary Plan votes will be conducted by the Council, or delegated to the Development Committee – i.e. Councillors and unelected members of the Independent Maori Statutory Board together. Given that these planning decisions are the most important the Super City has made to date we’re backing Democracy Action's call for all of those voting having a democratic mandate.

Either way the final decisions have to be made by 19 August, with the appeal period (on points of law only) expiring on 16 September.

You can access the Panel’s reports and recommendations here and the recommended zoning maps here.

Support the campaign

Our work relies on people like you joining, and supporting our work.  Make a donation to our work can continue, our voice grows stronger, and so we can deliver more wins for Auckland ratepayers.

ARA launches Ratepayer Protection Pledge

Today we launched our 2016 Ratepayer Protection Pledge, to identify those candidates standing for Auckland Council who are aligned to the Ratepayers’ Alliance vision of reasonable rates and sensible spending by the Super City.

The pledge reads:

“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.”

We’re asking all Auckland Council candidates – no matter their political persuasion – to champion fiscal prudence and sign the pledge.

The pledge is designed to help Aucklanders identify who stands for more Council waste and empire building, and who stands for reasonable rates and sensible spending. We’ll be actively promoting those who sign the pledge with leaflet drops and campaign literature in the days up to voting.

Under Len Brown’s watch ratepayers have been hit with unaffordable rates increases year after year. Even worse, some of Len Brown’s rates enablers had stood for Council on platforms of rates restraint and restricted Council spending, only to abandon their election platform and vote with the Mayor once elected.

Our 16,500 members, and 600 volunteers will be working hard to ensure that the new Council is more fiscally responsible than those who allowed Len Brown to hike rates by 9.9% last year.

The policy victory concerning waste, and our distribution of 72,000 leaflets throughout Rodney and Albany is just the beginning.  We hope that those who talk the talk about rates will walk the walk and sign the pledge so that we can actively promote them as being on the side of ratepayers.

Penny Webster commits to choice for Rodney ratepayers

Rodney ward councillor Penny Webster has responded to our petition and campaign calling for her to fight for residents in her ward for an opt-out option for new waste services the Council is proposing to introduce in Rodney and Alban

Yesterday, Cr Webster confirmed that she believes that residents should not be forced to pay through their rates for any waste collection services if they choose to use private services. 

We have welcomed the news - it is a big win for ratepayers in the local area.

Cr Webster’s approach rules out the Council using targeted or general rates to cross subsidise Council refuse or green waste collection where there are alternative private operators providing a similar service or a ratepayer chooses to do their own waste disposal — such as farmers disposing their own green waste.

Ratepayers will welcome this approach. It will ensure that any new service Council elects to provide will need to be cost effective and survive on its own merits in a marketplace where private sector competitors have equal footing.

On this basis Rodney residents would only pay the direct costs of Council run recycling through their targeted rates (as there is no private sector option) with no hidden charge for refuse collection service or green waste collection.

Councillor Webster said she supports a competitive market for refuse collection as currently in place in Rodney and will not support any Council entry into the market that is cross-subsidised from general or targeted rates.

Our campaign called on Cr Webster to stand up for her local community, and it looks like she’s doing just that. 

Goff refuses to sign ratepayers' pledge

“I will not sign the Ratepayers’ Pledge" said an unequivocal Phil Goff, mayoral candidate for Auckland, during a meeting this morning with myself and Carmel Claridge, spokespersons for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance. The ARA pledge asks mayoral and Councillor candidates to keep rates increases (including levies) within an annual average rise no greater than 2%. Goff’s refusal to sign sends a clear message to ratepayers that they can expect more of the same Len Brown treatment they have endured for the last six years of rates of rises up to 10%pa.

Even Len Brown was prepared to commit to 2.6% annual rises before the last election, though he proved unable to keep his promise. That Goff will not give any assurance to ratepayers about future rates rises will sound alarm bells among our 16000 members and to all Auckland ratepayers about what they can expect under a Goff mayoralty.  

Goff has already signalled a high spending agenda of support for the City Rail Link ($5billion), a new light rail link to the airport (as yet undisclosed but likely to be in the region of $2 billion), moving the Ports of Auckland (between $5 and $8 billion), and support for a waterfront stadium ($1billion). When we pressed him on how he would fund these projects his answer was that government must come to the party.

The government has yet to commit to the City Rail Link despite Brown’s recklessness in pressing ahead leaving ratepayers vulnerable to picking up the entire tab. It is unlikely Goff will be any more successful at persuading government than the hapless Len Brown. Goff's agenda is even more recklessness than Brown's and, if the Government doesn't come to the party, there will only be one source of finance, the ratepayer.

Goff talked about making the bureaucracy more accountable but would not commit to cutting staff numbers. He talked about committing ratepayers’ money towards the plight of the homeless, the provision of social housing and other social agendas more appropriate to government policy and taxes rather being core Council business. We reminded him that spending on core Council services such as roads, parks and waste collection were being neglected while Council’s culture of waste continues unabated and suggested, respectfully, that he should first concentrate on those neglected areas.

What was abundantly clear from the meeting is that Goff will use ratepayers’ money to further a Socialist agenda. He is good at talking up more accountability and cutting out the culture of waste in Council but is short on details of how he will achieve it.

It is disappointing that Goff will not sign our ratepayers’ pledge. His failure to do so will leave room for other candidates to send a strong message to ratepayers that it is they who can be trusted to take action on behalf of ratepayers to ensure reasonable rates and sensible spending by signing the ARA pledge.

North Shore and Albany waste omnishambles rolls on

Auckland Council is leaving it to private waste collection companies in North Shore and Albany - the very outfits it's trying to force out of the market with proposed reforms - to collect the Council's old 140-litre blue wheelie bins.

In short, the Council dumped new recycling bins on homeowners, without collecting the old ones - telling residents they can do what they like with them, but making them wait months if they want the Council to pick them up.

Only Auckland Council would dump wheelie bins on householders without making provision for the old ones to be removed

This comes a month after we launched our briefing paper explaining how the Council is trying to extend its expensive and inefficient monopoly of waste collection into Albany and Rodney – the only areas left where householder enjoy competition.  According to Council documents, the changes are likely to see the cost of domestic rubbish collection double for tens of thousands of households North of the Harbour Bridge.”

In addition, our supporters petition calling on Councillors Wayne Walker and Penny Webster to provide an opt-out provision for householders who don’t use or want the Council’s new services has received more than 2,100 signatures.

Council's financial policy manager should retract comments or resign

This afternoon our Spokesperson, Jo Holmes, called for the resignation of Auckland Council’s Manager for Financial Policy Andrew Duncan for statements Mr Duncan made about a leaflet drop to 72,000 households by the Ratepayers’ Alliance relating to proposed reform of the Council’s rubbish collection services that will see the costs to some households double.“Council bureaucrats should be politically neutral and ensure the public receive accurate information.

Council bureaucrats should be politically neutral and ensure the public receive accurate information. Mr Duncan reacted to our campaign by suggesting it could be misleading but has refused to withdraw those comments despite being unable to point to a single claim by the Ratepayers’ Alliance which is not backed up by the Council’s own analysis.

Mr Duncan won't even confirm whether he bothered to read our 10-page briefing paper before he suggested our campaign was 'misleading'. Emails released to us under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act make no suggestion he did.

We are calling on Mr Duncan to either withdraw his allegation, or resign. Our figures and statements were based on the Council's own analysis — it's not our fault officials don't like a ratepayer group shining the light on what Council is up to."

Auckland ratepayers are not served by an officialdom which bends over backward to protect its empire building and its favoured elected officials.