Taxi Chits Probably Cheaper than Marlborough Council Website

Analysis by the Taxpayers’ Union suggests that Marlborough District ratepayers have been duped into paying for an expensive website that is only matched by New Zealand’s largest city.

Since July 2011, the Marlborough District Council has paid $410,550 for website design and development costs.  In comparison, Dunedin City Council spent only $35,520 over the same time period.

“The only council that spent more on web design than Marlborough was Auckland Council” says Jordan Williams, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union. 

“Even if we assume that half of Marlborough’s residents have actually visited the site, it would probably have been cheaper for the Council to pay for a taxi for them to visit the office.  It is potentially a huge waste of ratepayer money.”

Wellington City, which redeveloped its award winning website earlier in the year spent almost one hundred thousand dollars less than Marlborough.

Full analysis and graph is available on the Taxpayers’ Union website at www.taxpayers.org.nz/pages/councilwebsites

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ENDS

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