The Government’s plan to cap
council rates is a recipe for asset sell-offs, job
losses and higher user charges that will hit households and
communities harder than rates ever did.
“Rates caps
will backfire and hurt the very communities they are
supposed to help,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary
for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga
Mahi, which represents local government
workers.
“Rates caps are lazy politics that will
damage New Zealand. International evidence is clear. Rates
caps starve councils of revenue, forcing them to privatise
community assets, slash staff and impose new charges for
services that used to be covered by rates.
“The only
winners are private companies which get to buy up public
assets on the cheap and then charge communities more to use
them.
“This is a cheap slogan that will cost
communities far more – through higher separate charges for
swimming pools, libraries, rubbish collection and other
services that are funded through rates.
“When councils
are stopped from raising enough revenue, staff cuts
inevitably follow. Our members who everyday support
communities with vital services – maintaining parks, fixing
pipes, running libraries – will be first in the firing
line.
“This will prevent councils from raising the
money needed to fix decades of underinvestment. You can’t
defer infrastructure maintenance forever – eventually the
pipes burst and the cost of catch-ups will
skyrocket.
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“New Zealand already has a massive
multi-billion dollar infrastructure deficit because councils
have historically kept rate rises too low. A mandatory cap
will only deepen that deficit and push critical repairs
further into the future.
“This is a sledgehammer to
crack a nut. It doesn’t fix the fundamental problem that
councils don’t generate enough revenue.
“If the
Government was serious about keeping costs down for
ratepayers, it should give councils other funding tools like
sharing GST revenue or tourism levies rather than forcing
them into asset sales and service cuts.
“Just like the
cuts to public services across New Zealand, this is another
short-sighted decision that’s prioritising political
slogans over the long-term needs of
communities.”
Note:
The Public Service
Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa
New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and
supporting more than 95,000 workers across central
government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health
boards and community
groups.
