Councils demand more from ratepayers while disciplining elected representatives who push back

Summarised by Centrist

As households across New Zealand are required to pay more, how much room remains for ratepayers and their elected representatives to resist those increases without being sidelined?

Ratepayers in Wellington are confronting steep new water bills, while an Auckland councillor says she was stripped of a leadership position after opposing the mayor’s 7.9% rates increase.

Across Wellington, Porirua and the Hutt Valley, water services are now billed separately through Tiaki Wai. 

The average bill is expected to be 13.3% higher than the amount previously collected through rates, but some households face much larger increases.

Lower Hutt resident Anthony Allen said charges attached to an unused granny flat could push his total rates and water costs from $7,133 to nearly $10,000 a year.

“Knowing that there’s nothing that we can do is quite a level of helplessness here,” he said.

Another resident calculated an 18% increase, while a Petone couple said their direct debits appeared likely to cost them about $2,000 more than expected.

Tiaki Wai said customers with questions about their individual circumstances should contact it directly.

Meanwhile, Auckland councillor Bo Burns says Mayor Wayne Brown removed her as deputy chair of the Community Committee after she voted against his rates increase.

Burns said Brown told her she “didn’t behave” and could receive another role if she became a “good councillor”. Questioned publicly, Brown said her “decisions have consequences” and described council as a “team thing”.

Burns asked whether being a good councillor meant voting with the mayor. Brown said not necessarily, but councillors needed to offer “sensible, well-thought-out responses” and raise concerns during earlier discussions.

Read more at 1News and The Eastern Times 

Image: Bo Burns Facebook 

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