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David White / Stuff
] evaluation system.
EDITORIAL: Which of us does not open the bill tariffs with a growing sense of dread? As reported Stuff this week, rate hikes generally exceed inflation and rising incomes in a relatively low-wage economy. It's no wonder that homeowners feel more and more in a hurry and even desperate.
Christchurch City Councilor Jamie Gough has a vision on the apocalyptic frontier. The rating system is not only "broken" and unsustainable, he says, but risks collapsing, whether in five or twenty years. Or even less.
Along with increasing anxiety over rising rates, some advisers are concerned that they may not be in the best position to make significant judgments about large infrastructure spending. Such complaints are becoming more common in Auckland and Christchurch.
Christchurch 's recently approved long – term plan is based on a 53% increase in rates over a decade, which is higher than the increases in Wellington and Auckland, equal to Hamilton and lower than the previous year. stupefying increase of 59% of Dunedin, according to the indicative figures provided by the councils.
READ MORE: Rate Increases Continually Exceed Earnings and Inflation – Do They Need Revision?
Taxpayers may have examples of what they perceive as unnecessary expenses. In fact, according to Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, who is also president of the local government of New Zealand, infrastructure spending has fallen behind the country. In most cases, the hikes do not only concern cool objects, but the essential ones.
Increasing costs associated with climate change will also fall disproportionately on local councils, some of which are terribly under-prepared.
So the solution is not a restrictive, cost-shared market-driven model that would reduce board spending, but a better way to fund boards that do not depend so much on taxpayers. Currently, about 60% of council revenues come from property rates, which is considered high by international standards.
Cull advocates rather for decentralization, or a "rebalancing", as he calls it. His mantra is that 88% of the rates and taxes are collected by the central government and only 12% by the local authorities in New Zealand. The opposite is true in Switzerland.
But the Swiss model would be a dramatic ideological overhaul for New Zealand. The think tank New Zealand Initiative published its report, Go Swiss in 2017, extolling the virtues of direct democracy and decentralized government. Rather than the "bigger, better" model that created Auckland's super-city, the initiative was inspired by the impression that the Swiss cantons were competing for taxes and were trying to attract potential residents.
Hypercompetitive models are out of date in New Zealand politics and the shift to a Swiss system would also be hampered by the persistent problem of local government image, as noted by the Initiative: "A lot of New Zealanders believe that the local government is the most Give the local government more power and money therefore seems counterintuitive. "
Similarly, some will see Cull's campaign, the Mayor of New York. Auckland Phil Goff and others to reform the system in their favor as a form of empire -building.Why would the central government willingly give up its power? But if we believe the alarmists it may be necessary to switch to a variant of the Swiss model.
In the meantime, the government's recently announced survey of new ways of financing local councils, including targeted rates and local taxes, is a s welcome
– The Press
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