Rates relief will be provided to people whose homes were damaged by the summer weather events. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Auckland Council has reopened its emergency relief fund with a $1 million top-up to provide rates relief to mostly red and yellow-stickered property owners.
Mayor Wayne Brown said the assistance would only be for homes that are uninhabitable and could include some white-stickered homes.
Brown said he wanted to help people in trouble and has great confidence in council staff to decide who should get rates relief.
As of Tuesday, there are 427 red and 1720 yellow-stickered properties in Auckland.
Under decisions taken at today’s governing body meeting red-stickered properties do not have to pay waste management charges for the first six months of the year at a cost of $40,000. Penalties have also been dropped on red and yellow-stickered properties that missed the February and May rates instalments.
The council’s emergency relief fund opened with a $100,000 commitment from Auckland Council and an additional $100,000 commitment from central government. The Government made an additional $1 million contribution with further donations from the public and corporations, including a $100,000 donation announced by ANZ.
The fund closed after five weeks with $2.7m but is oversubscribed from pending applications.
It will now be reopened with a $1m top-up funded by debt and donations.
Waitakere councillor Shane Henderson, whose community in suburbs like Swanson and the West Coast beaches were hit hard by this summer’s weather events, welcomed the funding and stressed the need for a simple process to help people.
“The little bit we can do, we should do. If you cannot enjoy your property then charging rates seems unfair and not the Kiwi way,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said she had lived and breathed the impacts of the events that had left communities across the region devastated.
Simpson estimated 7000 people were unable to live in their homes that had been stickered, some of whom were sleeping in cars, stressed and battling the prospect of never being able to return.
“We need to act…we need to show we care and make the process as simple as possible,” Simpson said.
Council officers reminded councillors of the tough financial position of the council, saying there was no spare cash to fund rates relief.
The council previously refused rates relief for central city businesses impacted by years of disruption during the construction of the $5.5 billion City Rail Link.
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