Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Brutal Rates Rises Under National

National will leave ratepayers footing the bill of upgrading critical water services infrastructure to ratepayers and leave already struggling councils with eyewatering costs, says Labour Local Government spokesperson Kieran McAnulty.

“Since 2021, information has been available that shows small districts will have brutal rates increases to continue to meet acceptable standards for water infrastructure,” Kieran McAnulty said.

“National shows no concern that small rural districts will be hit the hardest. The cost of making essential improvements to water treatment plants is still high whether you’re in large metropolitan council or a small rural district. The difference is a small rural district only has a fraction of the population to pay for it, meaning those rural families would be unfairly facing the biggest increase to their household budgets.

“Protozoa barriers, for example, cost tens of millions of dollars to install and maintain, yet some districts in New Zealand only have small populations of ratepayers to carry that burden. To make matters worse, those councils are often at their debt caps so have no choice but to rely on rates to make the unavoidable investment.

“Under National’s unfunded model, those councils will get no help. This is despite National promising them they would. Many of the Mayors I spoke to took National’s promise in good faith. But National has allocated nothing to water services in its fiscal plan.

“New Zealand now has a dedicated water regulator which is enforcing the standards we all expect. The requirement to meet those standards is the basis of the projected investment required in each district. And that adds up to $185 billion over the next 30 years.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

“Labour’s Affordable Water Reforms protects ratepayers from those unbearable cost escalations.

“In the Waikato for example, the annual rates bills and water charges could be as high as $7,600 without reform. With a Waikato water services entity in place the cost born by ratepayers will be more like $2,700.

“In the top of the South Island, ratepayers will be staring down bills of just under $7000 each year without reform. With reform that is reduced by half.

“These water service entities will have the focus, expertise and scale to make these investments without crushing small ratepayer populations.

“Unlike National, we refuse to leave these councils and communities alone in facing this.

“One thing is clear this election, If National win, New Zealanders lose,” Kieran McAnulty said.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Gordon Campbell: On How Climate Change Threatens Cricket‘s Future

Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else and complaining that he's inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” - which is how most of us would describe his own coalition agreements, 100-Day Plan, and backdated $3 billion handout to landlords... More


 
 
Public Housing Futures: Christmas Comes Early For Landlords

New CTU analysis of the National & ACT coalition agreement has shown the cost of returning interest deductibility to landlords is an extra $900M on top of National’s original proposal. This is because it is going to be implemented earlier and faster, including retrospective rebates from April 2023. More


Green Party: Petition To Save Oil & Gas Ban

“The new Government’s plan to expand oil and gas exploration is as dangerous as it is unscientific. Whatever you think about the new government, there is simply no mandate to trash the climate. We need to come together to stop them,” says James Shaw. More

PSA: MFAT Must Reverse Decision To Remove Te Reo

MFAT's decision to remove te reo from correspondence before new Ministers are sworn in risks undermining the important progress the public sector has made in honouring te Tiriti. "We are very disappointed in what is a backward decision - it simply seems to be a Ministry bowing to the racist rhetoric we heard on the election campaign trail," says Marcia Puru. More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.