City help comes at rating cost

About 20,000 Auckland City households will pay an extra $250 or more in rates this year to fund a City Vision-Labour budget that pours $60 million into transport, heritage, urban design and social projects over three years.

The budget, backed by Mayor Dick Hubbard, includes $1 million for a contentious affordable housing package, $10,000 towards a New Zealand sculpture in the Nagasaki Peace Park and $850,000 in rates rebates for the poor.

The overall rates increase is 9.7 per cent but a redistribution of rates from low-value to high-value properties means thousands of ratepayers will face rises of 16 per cent - about $250 - or more. This is because the uniform annual general charge is being halved from $189 million to $95 million.

The previous council introduced the charge to even out rates between the richest and poorest homeowners. City Vision-Labour campaigned to abolish the charge to help poor and medium-value homeowners.

Going halfway towards fulfilling that promise has angered asset-rich and income-poor people such as retired St Heliers couple Oliver and Gerarda Bossard, who have to find an extra $352 a year on a fortnightly pension of $786.

"Why is the council punishing us?" asked Mrs Bossard at a hearing on public submissions this month.

The minority Citizens & Ratepayers have attacked the budget, saying it will cause "pain, suffering and anger" once the first rates instalments hit letterboxes in four weeks.

C & R Now leader Scott Milne said the previous council increased some rates 30 per cent but in dollar terms it only equated to a "latte a week".

The latest rises would cost $1000 or more to people who could not afford it.

City Vision leader Bruce Hucker, who promised to keep rate rises to no more than 2 per cent above inflation when he stood as an independent for the mayoralty, said the 9.7 per cent rise was "carefully justified in terms of the needs of the city if we are to deal with issues that have been neglected for years and years".

Over three years, an extra $42 million would be spent on improving public transport and roading projects. Dr Hucker said the council was putting aside $850,000 to help ratepayers who struggled to pay rates.