Media release

Auckland Councillors Chris Fletcher and Cameron Brewer

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Centre-right aims to reduce Auckland rates rise to 2.5%

Auckland Council Citizens and Ratepayers Leader Christine Fletcher and independent councillor Cameron Brewer say a group of eight likeminded councillors will table an alternative 10-year draft budget at tomorrow’s Strategy and Finance committee.

“We want to get average rates increases down as much as possible, particularly when tens of thousands of Auckland households are set to get hit with double-digit rates increases. We also want to lift the Uniform Annual General Charge to $450 which will also help to soften the extreme increases. People have told us through the submission process that they want an affordable Auckland. That’s what we’re pushing for,” says Mrs Fletcher.

“We’ve focused on cutting or deferring some of the Mayor’s massive downtown and waterfront projects, while preserving community initiatives around the region and actually adding budget to the likes of maintaining our volcanic cones. We’ve also sliced a fraction off Auckland Transport’s massive annual operating budget but requested that current service levels be upheld,” says Mr Brewer.

The meeting to debate the Long Term Plan starts at 10am in the Auckland Town Hall tomorrow.

Ends

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A (Sweary) Analysis Of Urgency Abuse And
The Consititution

Keith Ng: You’re looking at the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) for the Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill. Basically, the courts said that the Government had to pay family members who looked after people with disabilities (because not doing so was discriminatory), so the Government passed this law to say: “Yeah nah.”

The RIS isn’t just redacted for the public – it was redacted for MPs. *Parliament* voted on this, with all the relevant facts blacked out.

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