Regional fuel tax: Decision expected today

Monday, 30 April 2018, 2:18 pm
Article: RNZ

5:10 am today
Eva Corlett, Reporter

Auckland Council decides today if it will press ahead with a regional fuel tax to help free up the city's gridlocked roads, but critics are denouncing the move as too rushed and short on detail.

Legislation to allow the tax is making its way through Parliament and if all goes to plan, Aucklanders will pay an extra 11.5 cents a litre for their petrol by July.

The tax is expected to bring in an additional $1.5 billion over a decade to help pay for huge roading projects, electric trains and better bus routes and cycleways.

The Council needs to get vote in approval for the proposal on how the money will be spent over the next 10 years, before it heads to the next stage of public consultation.

But Waitakere Councillor Linda Cooper is furious about the lack of detail over where exactly the money is going.

There seems to be something for everyone except West Aucklanders, she said.

"This is just a comment and a line on a map - it doesn't give me a lot of comfort.

"We've waited a long time for this, and it certainly doesn't deliver for the NorthWest."

Councillor Cooper said the area was one of the largest growing regions in Auckland and was already victim to terrible traffic congestion.

Many Councillors will feel little choice but to vote for the tax and the spending plan, Councillor Cooper said.

"We are over a barrel. We are basically blackmailed."

"If we don't do this fuel tax, we won't get that money from the government doing the project," she said.

Despite being torn, she said she would vote for the tax.

North Shore Councillor and planning committee chair Chris Darby was backing the tax, saying it rebooted transport in a 21st century way.

"I stress that it's not just about transport. It enables tens of thousands of home right across Auckland to be delivered in time."

It connected people to work and education opportunities, he said.

"That is a massive difference," he said.

The National Party said public consultation so far on the regional tax showed more people against it than for it.

But Mayor Phil Goff said that was only because of last minute bulk submissions from the Auckland Ratepayers Alliance which skewed the results.

A most recent Colmar Brunton poll of 4000 people showed 52 percent of Aucklanders back the tax compared with 43 percent who are opposed.

Once Councillors decide today to press ahead with the petrol price hike, the public will have two weeks to air any grievances about how the money will be spent.

Barney Irvine from the Automobile Association said that was not enough time.

"We're how many months into this debate and we're only now getting a sense of what projects they're going to get for the extra money," he said.

"We still don't have any clear idea about what the de-congestion benefits are going to be."

Aucklanders would not have enough time to respond to it, Mr Irvine said.

Mr Irvine said the AA supported a regional fuel tax for Auckland but it needed to be clearer for the public to feel confident in the plans.

But Mr Goff said people had already been consulted for months through the 10-year budget plan.

And he cautioned councillors not to oppose the tax.

"I would expect councillors to do what is sensible and to make sure that we can start to fix our transport congestion problems because the cost of not doing that is simply too great," Mr Goff said.

Depending on the council's vote today, the public will have until 14 May to make submissions.

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