KEY POINTS:
Big rate rises have been necessary to fix Auckland's crumbling infrastructure, cope with growth and turn it into a lifestyle city, Mayor Dick Hubbard says.
"I'm acutely aware of the magnitude of the increases," Mr Hubbard said after raising rates 3.6 per cent this year to complete a 21.4 per cent increase in rates during his first three-year term.
Adding to the financial strain have been rising water bills, up 19.6 per cent in consecutive years.
Mr Hubbard, who goes to the polls in October seeking a second term, acknowledged that households have had a "tough deal". Household rates have gone up 32.7 per cent, largely because of the strategy to reduce higher business rates a bit each year and last year's property revaluation exercise that accounted for 5 per cent of the 32.7 per cent increase.
Mr Hubbard said his council was addressing years of neglected infrastructure, facing the problems of dropping a city the size of Wellington into Auckland over the next 20 years, tackling congestion, lifting residents' expectations to make Auckland a world-class city and addressing urban design and heritage issues.
The opposition Citizens & Ratepayers Now ticket has slammed Mr Hubbard, City Vision-Labour and arch enemies Action Hobson for adopting a "tax-and-spend" policy over the past three years and into the future.
But Mr Hubbard, whose council has drawn up a $2.3 billion spending programme over 10 years, defended the level of increases.
"Take out inflation of about 3.5 per cent a year and the amount of the real rates increases are not hugely high," he said.
In dollar terms, the owner of a house with a capital value of $400,000 has seen their rates rise from about $942 to $1247 under Mr Hubbard and his City Vision-Labour controlled council.
For the extra $305, Mr Hubbard said the householder could see a huge improvement in the city's footpaths, a $14 million upgrade of the country's busiest intersection at Greenlane and work about to begin on the $47 million dedicated busway from the city to Newmarket.
The $3 million-a-year targeted rate for open space and volcanic cones would kick in this summer with a $6 million makeover of Mt Eden (Maungawhau).
Big projects on the horizon include the city's $871 million share of the revised $1.5 billion Auckland-Manukau eastern highway, an unquantified bill for the Tank Farm waterfront development and $400 million for improving the city's town centres and suburbs.
C&R Now finance spokesman Doug Armstrong said he was appalled to learn at last week's budget-setting meeting that the council had pencilled in overall rates increases of 10.2 per cent, 10.1 per cent and 13.2 per cent for the next term of council. Household rates could rise by more than 40 per cent. Mr Armstrong said the trend was arrogant, uncaring and politically unsustainable.
"This is a crisis for all ratepayers, particularly homeowners. Frankly, the party that obtains a majority on council in the next term has been given a hospital pass that will require hard decisions if the burden on ratepayers is not to become intolerable."
Mr Armstrong, who played a major role in the last council selling pensioner housing and half the council's airport shares to reduce debt to zero, said the rates projections were on top of the city going down a borrowing path totalling $1.25 billion over 10 years.
