21 September 2009
 
 

Leaky Homes - Ratepayer support vital for ‘rescue package’ to stand the test of time says North Shore Mayor

Securing the support of ratepayers for any multi-billion-dollar package to repair the region’s leaky homes is vital if the package is to stand the test of time, North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams said today.

“It is essential that any compensation package to deal with the leaky homes problem gains widespread public support, otherwise we are in danger of exchanging one group of victims with another as the enormous cost of the rescue deal starts showing up in the letterboxes of ‘super city’ ratepayers. Aucklanders are generous and fair minded people, yet I have already had people asking how much their rates will go up as a result of the leaky homes package,” Mayor Williams said.

Mayor Williams said the disproportionate spread of leaky homes across the region holds the potential for localised ratepayer resentment as ratepayers in North Shore, for example, with 453 claims, around 15 percent of the super city’s leaky homes under active claim, or Papakura with none, having to pay for Auckland City where 1,920, or around 65 percent, are to be found.

“Manukau City has only 123 active claims compared to Auckland City’s 1,920 claims. Under the Super City why should the good people of Manukau, a huge percentage of which are hard working middle income earners doing their very best for their families, have to pay higher rates under the new Super City to help to sort out the 1,920 claims in Auckland City, for people living in areas such as the affluent Eastern Suburbs?. This simply is not fair for the residents of the likes of Manukau and Papakura.”

“Unless we are open and straight with ratepayers from the beginning, and take people along with us, any possible package to deal with the region’s leaky homes will eventually collapse under the weight of a ratepayer backlash as community funding dries up. The existing cities making up the region will cease to exist in 12 months’ time, but it would be irresponsible to deliver a rescue package that would cripple the ‘super city’ financially and deprive local communities of services for years to come,” Mayor Andrew Williams said.

“Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson deserves congratulation for identifying these issues early, bringing the Mayors of the six major cities affected together, and presenting us with options for a lasting solution, as does Local Government Minister Rodney Hide for his reassurance that “the existing councils will continue to determine their own approach to compensation claims throughout the transition period” to the new Auckland Council.”

“Rodney Hide’s reassurance makes it clear to everyone that whatever package is arrived at in concert with central government, the burden will fall on the ratepayers of the new ‘super city’. Never-the-less, it is up to the current Mayors and Councils to make every effort to bring closure to this sad and sorry leaky homes saga that has ruined so many lives, and come up with an enduring solution that is fair both to owners of leaky homes and the ratepayers who will have to pay for it,” Mayor Andrew Williams said.

Mayor Andrew Williams added that if a clear public consensus does not form around an eventual rescue package for leaky homes in the region, it may become necessary to give consideration to putting a series of options to the public by referendum at the upcoming local government elections, an approach favoured by Rodney Hide for significant local government decisions under his ‘core services’ review. This could include targeted rates for each area of the Auckland Council cursed by the leaky home problem hanging over them. That would mean, for instance, a targeted rate for the 450,000 Auckland City residents that currently represent 65% of the Auckland region’s leaky home problems, but only 15% targeted rate for North Shore’s 225,000 people. To do otherwise would mean North Shore people are picking up a huge tab for Auckland City, and that’s not right.” says Mayor Williams.
 
“The more we analyse this Auckland Super City, whether it be this leaky home issue, or the black cloud hanging over development contributions issue which I have also raised today, and many other such extraordinary anomalies, the more the people of the North Shore are saying to me, why on earth are we allowing the Government to get away with this when we really didn’t want it?”

“That is a question I am also asking our four local North Shore MP’s - Ministers Mapp, McCully, Coleman and Key who are supposedly the “elected parliamentary representatives” of the North Shore. But they continue to be very conspicuous by their lack of engagement in the whole Auckland debate. It is perhaps not surprising that they are running for cover given these daunting issues such as leaky homes and development contributions hanging over their much vaunted Super City, which will come alive as the “Frankenstein Super City” just 12 months before the next general election.”

Number of individual properties with active leaky homes claims as at August 31, 2009:

Auckland City  1,920
North Shore City  453
Manukau City  123
Rodney District  93
Waitakere City  351
Papakura District   0
Hamilton City   32
Christchurch City   322
Dunedin City   2
National total: 3,891
Source: Department of Building and Housing
 

++ENDS

© Scoop Media