Sunday 18 August, 2013
 
Local Government minister says Christchurch ratepayers won’t be repaid illegally charged late fees.
 
Local Government minister Chris Tremain told TV One’s Q+A programme that Christchurch ratepayers who may have been illegally charged late fees on their rates from as far back as 2004 will not be reimbursed.
 
“No, no, they won’t. We’ll look to use the rating assessment process in the current act to revalidate the rates,” Mr Tremain told political reporter Michael Parkin.
 
The Department of Internal Affairs picked up the error last week finding that due dates and penalties were not included in Christchurch’s current year’s rates resolution. An investigation found they had not been included since 2004.
 
When asked what that total amount the council may have taken illegally was, Mr Tremain says he did not know but that “look, the money is significant”.
 
“I don’t have a figure for you. What we’re going to do, though, is make sure that the rates are valid, make sure that they are payable and make sure that it’s fine,” he says.
 
Meanwhile, local body elections are due to be held in October around the country. Mr Tremain noted the low turnouts for local council elections and says in the future he is keen to look at e-voting as a way to encourage people to take part.
 
“Outside of that, it’s really important that local communities ensure that their councillors or those who are standing for election put their hands up and it doesn’t just become a personality contest, that each community knows what the local issues are and that they know where each councillor
stands on those issues.”
 
 
Q+A, 11-midday Sundays on TV ONE and one hour later on TV ONE plus 1. Streamed live at www.tvnz.co.nz   
 
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Q+A
 
MICHAEL PARKIN INTERVIEWS CHRIS TREMAIN
 
 
MICHAEL PARKIN
Minister, thank you for joining us this morning. You’ve announced that you’re going to rein in council development charges. They are now averaging around $14,000 per section. Have people been getting ripped off when building a home?
 
CHRIS TREMAIN - Local Government Minister
Look, I wouldn’t say they’ve been ripped off, Michael, but we’ve been very focused as a government on housing affordability and making sure that citizens are getting good value for money. So that’s involved a range of initiatives, most importantly land supply, of course, which the Prime Minister and Nick Smith have been dealing with. But development contributions are important. They’re about anywhere between 3 and 5 per cent of the cost of developing a property. So we want to take a really focused position on each and every part of building a property. We’re looking at development contributions and seeing how we can rein them in.
 
MICHAEL       They’re very important to many councils around the country. You know, they make up 30, 40 per cent of their infrastructure costs. Where is that money going to come from if it’s not coming from the charges? It’s going to be lumped to rates, isn’t it?
 
CHRIS            We’re going to focus development contributions on the things that really contribute to the cost of building a home. I think that’s really important.
 
MICHAEL       But they need the money, don’t they? Councils need that money.
 
CHRIS            Well, that depends what they need it for. If they’re going to be going in and building new libraries or municipal theatres, that sort of thing, then we’d argue that development contributions shouldn’t be used for those sorts of facilities and that should come out of the general rates.
 
MICHAEL       So we will see rates go up as a result of this?
 
CHRIS            It comes down to the decisions of councils, Michael. Part of our reform programme has been to focus local government on what we believe are the core purposes. So-
 
MICHAEL       You’re favouring developers here, aren’t you, over ratepayers. They’re going to take a hit.
 
CHRIS            No, we are favouring people… affordable housing. We want to make sure that Kiwis who are getting into the market have the best chance of buying a new property at good value.
 
MICHAEL       What’s the maximum those Kiwis will be paying in development fees under this new regime?
 
CHRIS            Well, I can’t give you a maximum. It will be different between each council. What we’ve said is we’re going to confine what development contributions can be paid for, and we’re going to provide a lot more transparency so that developers, citizens can see what actually they’re being charged. And we’re also going to provide an objection process whereby developers can go in and challenge those charges to make sure that they’re getting value for money.
 
MICHAEL       Is $14,000, that average - yes or no – is that acceptable?
 
CHRIS            Well, again, it depends of the market that you’re dealing in. In some markets, that may be acceptable, but it really depends. Auckland, obviously, the average price of building a home is a lot different to my own hometown of Napier. So, look, I think we’ve got to weigh those up as we go forward, but the aim is to make development contributions more transparent and more focused on the actual cost of building the home.
 
MICHAEL       Sticking with building, you’ve had the report now from the Crown Manager at the Christchurch City Council. The problems there, when are they going to be sorted out?
 
CHRIS            Well, Doug Martin’s done an absolutely fantastic job down there in the four weeks that he’s been there. In four weeks, he’s delivered the action plan that we’ve asked him to, and he’s said that he’ll have the Christchurch Council back to accreditation by June of 2014. So he’s done a good job.
 
MICHAEL       He mentions in there the culture of the organisation and a lack of customer focus in the culture. Was it a toxic culture there?
 
CHRIS            Well, I think it was a culture that needed to improve. He’s recognised that, and he’s put steps in place to make sure that that is addressed. So, you know, I think that, amongst a number of other recommendations - improving the forecasting, making sure that they’ve got the capacity and capability. You know, getting this right for Christchurch is critical.
 
MICHAEL       You talk about the culture there, and that obviously comes from the top down. This report and the investigation into Tony Marryatt are now complete. Is it time for the council…can it now sever ties with Tony Marryatt?
 
CHRIS            Look, I’m not going to make comments about Tony Marryatt. It’s up to the council. What I’m interested in is making sure we have a fantastic consenting process for the people of Christchurch. You know, getting this, getting this-
 
MICHAEL       But he’s sitting there now. He’s a $500,000-a-year CEO. He’s sitting there on gardening leave. Isn’t it time for him to either get back to work now this plan is in place or get out?
 
CHRIS            That’s a decision for the councillors, Michael. I’m not going to be making any comments today about Tony Marryatt.
 
MICHAEL       Councils in general - are you happy with their performance? Because we’ve now got this other issue in Christchurch of these penalty rates that effectively seem to have been charged wrongly to the ratepayers. Have you had some indication of whether those ratepayers will be able to get the money back?
 
CHRIS            Well, look, you asked me firstly about councils in general. Look, we have had concerns about some rates rises when we had, sort of, inflation at about, 2.7 per cent. Rates were going up about 7 per cent over the last 10 years. So we have introduced a reform programme to address that. Look, generally, you know, there are some excellent examples of councils out there doing a fantastic job. On the other side of the coin, there are councils that do need to pick their game up.
 
MICHAEL       And so on that Christchurch issue, then, on those penalty rates, what’s going to happen there? Will that money have to be handed back?
 
CHRIS            No, it won’t. We’ll be going through a process to understand exactly what the technical breaches are.
 
MICHAEL       Do you know how much it is? A ballpark figure?
 
CHRIS            I don’t have that number off the top of my head. But we’ll be looking at the technical breaches. There is an ability in the current legislation to fix the situation.
 
MICHAEL       So the ratepayers will be out of pocket on this? The law will be changed around and they just won’t get their money back?
 
CHRIS            No, no, they won’t. We’ll look to use the rating assessment process in the current act to revalidate the rates.
 
MICHAEL      It will be millions of dollars, though, won’t it? Because, I mean, this goes back to 2004, so we’re not talking small amounts of money, are we?
 
CHRIS            Oh, look, the money is significant-
 
MICHAEL       Significant as in millions? Tens of millions?
 
CHRIS            But the point I’m making is that be able to-
 
MICHAEL       I’m going to get you to put some sort of figure on it.
 
CHRIS            I don’t have a figure for you, Michael.
 
MICHAEL       You don’t know or you’re not prepared to share it?
 
CHRIS            I don’t have a figure for you. What we’re going to do, though, is make sure that the rates are valid, make sure that they are payable and make sure that it’s fine.
 
MICHAEL       The general satisfaction or, I guess, the lack of stellar performances in some councils, is that a good enough reason to move towards more supercities, more amalgamations, as we’ve seen here in Auckland?
 
CHRIS            Look, one of the parts of the reform that we have rolled out is more transparency around financial ratios. We’ve got a new prudential ratio system that will actually shine a light on how councils are performing. So we are looking to roll that out and use that as a way for councils to benchmark themselves.
 
MICHAEL       The submissions for the Wellington region close on Friday, so when are we going to see some movement in that part of the country?
 
CHRIS            Ok, so, coming back to reorganisations, look, the government’s been clear that we are in favour of reorganisations, but we’ve made it very clear that it’s a community-led objective. So in regard to Wellington, which you’ve just asked me about, the Local Government Commission is in the process of considering the options that are on the table, and there are a number of them, before it puts firstly a draft proposal back into the market and then a final proposal.
 
MICHAEL       But when will we see a Wellington supercity? When do you want to have this idea pitched up?
 
CHRIS            This is a clearly a community-led initiative-
 
MICHAEL       But it gives them a lot of power to come to the government with their hand out and argue with the government, so when do you think-?
 
CHRIS            I wouldn’t say it comes with their hand out. It gives the community the option to come to government with a proposal for change. I think that’s an exciting way to approach it. The Local Government Commission has the ability to shape that proposal and to make changes to it. Then the community has the ability to introduce a referendum to make a decision on it. So it’s not a government decision; it’s a community decision.
 
MICHAEL       You talk about the community. Obviously the biggest part the community can play is turning out to vote. But they’re at record low levels, really. Only half the voters seem to turn out for local body elections. Why is that, do you think?
 
CHRIS            It got down to 44 per cent in 2007, and it’s picked up to about 47.5 per cent. So I agree with you. It is low if you compare that to central government elections, which are around 75 per cent. So, look, I think what I’m keen to do is bring in the youth votes, and I’m keen to look strongly at e-voting as an opportunity into the future. So I’m putting a working group together with the likes of the leadership of the likes of Nick Leggett of Porirua who are keen to make this happen. So I’m keen to see that definitely as a trial process by the next elections after these ones. Outside of that, it’s really important that local communities ensure that their councillors or those who are standing for election put their hands up and it doesn’t just become a personality contest, that each community knows what the local issues are and that they know where each councillor stands on those issues.
 
MICHAEL       E-voting - something to look forward to. Local Government Minister Chris Tremain, thank you very much.
 
CHRIS            Thank you, Michael.
 
ENDS

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