NoMoreRates

NoMoreRates NoMoreRates.com is a campaign to change the way local councils in New zealand are funded.

David Thornton is the Founder of NoMoreRates which has now been established for 8 years.

24/05/2016

NoMoreRates
The nationwide campaign to reform the present system of council funding
MEDIA RELEASE
May 25th 2016
[statement from David Thornton]
SkyPath costs heading to ratepayers in secret.
Exactly how much Auckland ratepayers are being stung for the SkyPath project is being discussed at the Town Hall today, in secret session.
SkyPath is a cycling/walking pathway which is to be attached to the eastern clip-on of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
From a $20 million project promoted a few short years ago years ago the project cost is now about $34 million – and the Council is to be the guarantor for an, as yet, unknown amount which has been labelled a “limited revenue underwrite”,
The project is being proposed as a Public Private Partnership with PIP, an infrastructure fund, which is to provide funds for the construction and operation of SkyPath.
A Business Plan produced three years ago suggested a levy of $2 for each visitor crossing which would provide all the necessary income to build and run the pathway over 20 year period. After that time a new Harbour Crossing would be in place and the current bridge would incorporate new cyclist/pedestrian facilities.
For the last two years little real cost and funding information has been presented to ratepayers, in particular there has been no new business case with realistic patronage forecasts.
It is that business case which will indicate the likely risk the Council will take on board under its guarantee. That guarantee itself is underwritten by ratepayers.
All this financial information is being presented to the Council under ‘Confidential’ at today’s Governing Body meeting.
The Council has already approved $995,000 (by the CEO under his delegated authority) to assist the SkyPath in obtain resource and building consent.
This whole process appears to have been driven by council staff, and elected councillors appear to have been relatively starved of financial information, despite huge sums being spent or promised so far.
The SkyPath Trust is now urging the Council to give the go-ahead to the project now on the basis that there is no alternative crossing likely to be available for more than 20 years when the new Harbour Crossing will be built.
However latest advice from Government is that the next crossing is more likely to be started in as little as 9 years.
While claiming that SkyPath will reduce traffic congestion by shifting people from cars to bikes, no credible figures have been produced to show a forecast breakdown of users between tourists, leisure visitors and commuters.
Its seems that ratepayers are again having their money spent at the whim of a council which is not in control of its spending decisions.
ends

19/05/2016

SuperCity planning and funding is leading to chaos.
19th May 2016
[Statement by David Thornton}
SuperCity planning and funding is leading to chaos.
With the Government and Opposition, both demanding the outward development of Auckland’s residential development, Auckland ratepayers are under threat.
Anyone following the progress of the Unitary Plan through the Independent Hearings Panel will be wondering what effect its decisions will have on the Council, which is now threatened with a Government take-over.
The Independent Hearings Panel is probably going to tell Council that its proposed zoning rules will not create enough land to meet the housing demand of 400,000 housing units by 2041.
The Panel may conclude that the proposed zoning will only provide 240,000 units by 2030 and that the Unitary Plan must therefore be changed to show where the balance of 160,000 housing units can be developed.
With both sides of politics demanding that the urban boundaries must be moved further out, the pressure on infrastructure provision will become intense, and the question is “Who will pay for the provision of transport, water and wastewater which are the minimum basic services needed?”
In normal circumstances the Council would fund new development public infrastructure out of additional loans.
But the latest budget from the Council reveals that it has almost reached the maximum prudent borrowing level, and if it exceeds that level the credit agencies have warned the Council that its credit rating would probably be downgraded, with resultant higher interest costs.
If that happens Auckland ratepayers would be faced with funding those higher interest costs, and significant rates increases are inevitable.
If the Government decides to intervene, and the boundaries are moved out, it should be the Government’s responsibility to fund those very significant infrastructure costs.
There is a sense of chaos around the Auckland Council – provisions in its Proposed Unitary Plan are being challenged by the Government and Opposition; it’s ability to borrow for capital development is severely limited; it’s CRL project is not funded and does not have a business plan; it’s public transport system is being widely criticised as being unreliable; and now a Government threat to appoint a Commissioner.
There are few ratepayers and citizens who would claim the SuperCity has been a success.

12/05/2016

Auckland Council on the debt brink
MEDIA RELEASE
12 May 2016
Auckland Council forced to use ‘rainy day’ funds to avoid credit rating drop.
“Put CRL on hold to avoid rainy day.”
Auckland Council is within a hairsbreadth of having its credit rating re-assessed which could lead to higher interest costs and greater rates increases for Auckland ratepayers.
Officer reports to the Council’s Finance Committee show that, unless cuts are made in capital expenditure, the level of debt by the council will exceed the levels set by credit agencies such as Standard & Poors and Moodys.
Officers are recommending that the council sell on some $335 million of commercial, non-strategic assets to avoid the need for more borrowings and the possibility of a credit downgrade’
These assets have been held as a reserve fund to provide liquidity to the Council in the event of a ”rainy day”
And that rainy day is getting closer as the Council’s net debt to revenue ratio of 265% is reached in the budget currently being finanlised
Current planned spending will push that figure to 267% and bring in the credit agencies.
NoMoreRates founder, David Thornton, said today “Part of the pressure on debt limits must be attributed to meeting the councils share of the cost of an earlier start to construction of the Central Rail Link (CRL). At this stage the Governments contribution has not been finalised, but if it is less than 50% the Council will need to borrow more
“If the CRL project was deferred to its original start date of 2020 the ‘rainy day’ would be averted”
The Council will decide tomorrow if the “rainy day” has arrived.
Ends

18/04/2016

Auckland Council SuperCity needs reform
Opportunity calls for overburdened ratepayers
My media release 18 April

In agreeing to look at North Rodney’s application to withdraw from Auckland Council, the Local Government Commission has thrown the doors wide open for a total re-appraisal of the governance, management and operation of the first ‘SuperCity’ in New Zealand.

Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of ratepayers, and residents, have, almost from its inception, expressed anger and frustration at the lack of democracy, accountability and honesty in the way Auckland Council has behaved towards it citizens.

The Local Government Commission has made it clear that it is aware of the widespread dissatisfaction in all parts of the Auckland region and acknowledges that it cannot ignore this situation as it considers the application by North Rodney to separate from the Auckland Council.

Ratepayers, especially residential ratepayers, have been hit hard by this Council as it has accumulated huge interest costs for capital expenditure on projects which benefit only specific areas of the city.

As NoMoreRates has frequently observed, ratepayers in the North and East have, and continue to, subsidise expenditure in the City Centre and the South and West.

The result of the Rodney Hide experiment has been a failure of elected members to manage a local authority of this size.

While a major re-organisation may seem a daunting task, the Commission has invited us all to have our say, and if changes are necessary they must be made.
ends

04/04/2016

My recent post on counting the long term costs of building rail transit got a lot of hits – and as expected a lot of pushback. There are a lot of people out there that are simply committed to…

24/02/2016

My media release on Council meeting on Unitary Plan

Unitary Plan process shows SuperCity failure.

The structure of the SuperCity must change following revelations which emerged at the meeting last night and showed a picture of poor communication, abuse of power, lack of contestable advice to elected members, lack of powers for local boards – and, according to the Deputy Mayor, lack of truthfulness.

The meeting became a clear battle between a minority of councillors on the one hand, and the majority of councillors and the majority of Local Boards on the other.

The council planning staff became the filling in the sandwich.

And the majority of councillors appeared to be unaware of how earlier decisions had been mad, and whether or not contestable planning advice had been available.

Councillors are not planners and have no specific recourse to alternative planning options and rely totally on the professional advice of council staff. Neither was contestable legal advice available during the earlier process.

The quality of decision making depends heavily on the quality of information received and variety of advice made available.

Last year the council introduced an Interim Transport Levy without seeking adequate public input. They did the same thing with the introduction of ‘out-of-scope’ rezoning.

Reform of the councils political and bureaucratic structure is urgently needed to ensure that real democracy returns to the citizens of Auckland.

27/01/2016

My news release today on CRL funding

City Rail Link funding still a mystery.

CRL may become election issue.

Auckland ratepayers will have to wait a few more months before finding out how the CRL will be funded, and how much pressure this will put on rates.

The Prime Minister’s speech today simply stated that the Government will provide funding from 2020 which should allow construction to commence in 2018.

There was no mention of how big a share of the total $2.86 billion cost would be met by Government – although Mr Key did suggest asset sales might be part of the mix.

Whatever amount the Government gives, the balance of the $2.86 billion cost will need to be found by the Auckland Council, and ultimately by the ratepayers.

The Council is planning to spend almost $400 on the CRL over the next 3 years on “Enabling works” and this is being entirely met by the Council.

It is important that the Government give a clear indication of how much of the total cost it will fund.

The Council’s 10-year budget anticipates Government funding being available in 2018, whereas the Prime Minister has today confirmed funding in 2020.

This 2-year gap could well be an additional cost to ratepayers if the Government holds up funding until 2020.

The Prime Minister said this and other issues would be negotiated through a business plan to be developed later in the year.

This programme may well drag the whole CRL project into an election year issue as Auckland moves to elect a new Mayor and Council.

15/12/2015

The next Mayor of Auckland - another hat in the ring.

Will Victoria rule over Auckland?

For those who have witnessed the lack of strong leadership on the Auckland Council the appearance of Victoria Crone into the mayoral battle should give a reasonable level of hope.
Certainly, in the face of the Labour candidate’s lack of business experience, a strong business leader may be the right choice to bring back the SuperCity to be a truly representative local government institution .

To many ratepayers, Auckland Council appears to have been run by a cabal of senior bureaucrats, in collaboration with a compliant Mayoral Office, to the exclusion of Councillors not in Len Brown’s gang and 21 powerless Local Boards.

Ratepayers and residents have been totally ignored and have looked around in despair for a way forward when the Brown era comes to an unlamented end.

There has been a multitude of calls for someone to step forward and challenge Labour’s Phil Goff who is perceived by many as being just a few steps from the Mayoral Office.

Victoria Crone has taken that step forward and certainly appears totally well equipped to manage the bureaucracy and now she faces the challenge of how to restore the confidence of the people of Auckland in its Council.

She will face two major issues – a budget which is leading to higher rates and greater debt, and a Proposed Unitary Plan which may be falling apart at the seams.
I look forward to hearing more from Ms Crone on her vision fort Auckland – and give her a first question to address.

Will she undertake to review the business case for an early start to the City Rail Link – particularly the current intent to start construction, and spend hundreds of millions of dollars, years ahead of the time when the Government may contribute to half the cost?

ends

08/11/2015

Auckland Mayor Len Brown should go now.
Len Brown’s stated intention to complete his current term will have filled most Auckland ratepayers with alarm.
The effects of his spending and borrowing policies over the last five years will be felt for the next decade at least
His electoral support had already dwindled at the 2013 election because people did not support his leadership
His determination to spend up large on city centre projects was obviously leading to a rundown of services in the suburbs.
His absolute resolve to push ahead with the City Rail Link, well in advance of the need for the project, will prove to be the prime example of his ego-driven aim
Spending hundreds of millions pf ratepayers dollars son a project well advance of its need ‘
As Auckland’s only Mayor, Brown has been the face of the SuperCity, but now he is Mr Nobody – hardly acknowledged at the few public functions he attends.
Auckland’s voice in the world has been debased by Len Brown. He should go now.
He can resign and, as there is less than a year to the election, the Councillors can elect a new Mayor from amongst their number.
That would leave a vacancy in the Council which could be filled by an appointment, possibly from among Local Board Members.
It is the right time for Brown to go before he sets out another budget with more spending and borrowing.
Ends.

15/10/2015

15 October 2015
[Statement by David Thornton]
Auckland Council Foreign Affairs workload expands.
More international travel for councillors and staff.
Under the leadership of Deputy-Mayor Hulse Auckland Council has resolved to join the C40 club of climate change leadership cities working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group connects more than 75 of the world’s greatest cities and is focused on tackling climate change and driving urban action that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks.
Membership will involve active participation, largely by officials, in developing action programmes to combat climate change, and attend regional meetings in Asia and Oceania. Politicians will obviously need to become involved at appropriate stages.
The Councils is already an active member of ICLEI (Local Government for Sustainability) an association of more than 1,200 local authorities within the UN.
Auckland is also a member of the Compact for Mayors which seems to be the umbrella organisation for both ICLEI and C40.
Membership of all three associations will require plenty of travel and a significant level of staff time and resources if the Council is to meet its obligations under the terms of membership of each organisation.
The question must be asked as to what benefits will come ratepayers way in return for the substantial costs which will inevitably have to be met.
The next C40 Cities major summit will take place in Mexico City and ratepayers will no doubt face a hefty bill for “Business Class” seats for the Council delegation.
The Council’s expanding involvement in overseas organisations is diverting staff resources from the much more pressing needs of the Council’s local activities within SuperCity itself.
The Council was again split 9-7 in favour of joining C40 Cities in a sometimes heated meeting, in the course of which the Chairman, Deputy-Mayor Penny Hulse, called a halt to further discussion in view of the $20,000 cost of each Council meeting as reported recently.
ends

24/09/2015

Flag voting - your strategic choices.
The first referendum will be by Preferential Voting – nominating preferences 1-4, now 1-5.
Adding that 5th option further increases the opportunity for strategic voting in which chances of your choice winning can be increased by placing the likely strongest option at number 5 on your voting paper.
It appears that there is little support for the two black and white flags, and that there is an even split between the red white and blue flag and the black white and blue flag.
Assuming the two black and white flags get eliminated, their relative 2nd and 3rd preferences go to the remaining three flags – two ferns and the red peak.
Those preferences, together with the split in the ‘fern’ vote, could keep red peak in the race and into the final ‘iteration’ of the total vote, and one of the ferns would be eliminated.
So, bet your bottom dollar that the Red Peakers will be lobbying furiously for its supporters to vote black and white, and for black and whiters to make Red Peak their number 2.
Could get white exciting!!!

15/09/2015

My media release on Hawkes Bay supercity vote.

Hawkes Bay result a victory for local democracy.
[Statement from David Thornton – Founder NoMoreRates]
With the rejection of amalgamations in Wellington and Northland, and now Hawkes Bay, it is now clear that New Zealand has had enough of SuperCity style local government.
There is always room for improvement in how local councils perform and are structured, but the essential ingredient is local democracy.
Auckland has clearly demonstrated that the local has been effectively removed from local government..
City Hall and its citizens no longer connect in Auckland.
People have no connection with their local councillor and the Governing Body is dysfunctional and at the mercy of an increasing large body of bureaucrats.
Hawkes Bay has recognised the un-democratic outcome of large-scale amalgamations and has sent a clear message to the Government that SuperCity is neither local nor democratic.
This is a personal rejection of Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule and a blow to the ambitions of the bureaucrats at Local Government New Zealand of which Mr Yule is a long-time President.
end

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