Hutt City has announced one of the lower rate rises in the region; 2.7% for residents and a 0.6% reduction for businesses. In contrast, the Auckland Supercity rates are going up an average 10%. Looks like we dodged a bullet with amalgamation then.
To be frank, we don’t understand how rates could be going up at all, with an annual CPI of only 0.1%.
When you look at the Hutt Council’s long term plan, the new projects are fairly innocuous; cycle and pathways, viewing platforms, the Naenae bowls centre (okay, okay…), and Huia Learners Pool. It’s the sort of unadventurous stuff that keeps a city ticking over. Yes, there are debates about the cost and usefulness. But these debates are more comfortable, and ultimately less costly, than the sorts of debates that face supercities.
Terrible things happened when people with grandiose ideas start wanting to spend our money.
That’s what happens in amalgamated councils. Does anyone honestly think that Auckland supercity’s rate rise is a one-off, or that any of the think-big schemes will deliver what they promised?
Give us debates over bowling clubs, learner pools and walkways any day.
