Dr Muriel Newman: Bill of Rights will put power back in hands of ratepayers

Dr Muriel Newman

The revelation that Auckland City rates could rise to more than $70 a week for the average ratepayer strengthens my view that New Zealand may be ready for a Ratepayers' Bill of Rights.

This would not only protect ratepayers from exorbitant rate rises but guide local authorities in their activities.

The bill would contain three principles: a requirement for councils to focus on the provision of core services as their primary role, a restriction on rate increases through the introduction of a cap on rates, and the establishment of a system of direct democracy to give ratepayers a say in local councils' decision-making processes.

In 2002, changes were made to the Local Government Act that fundamentally altered the way local government operates.

Instead of being focused largely on providing core infrastructural services to ratepayers - road maintenance, rubbish collection, reserve upkeep, the provision of water and other utilities - as well as the issuing and monitoring of consents, local government was unleashed to undertake any activity that could be deemed to be contributing to the increased "well-being" of the community.

In particular, the amendments redefined the purpose of local government to "promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities, in the present and for the future".

In promoting these four well-beings, local authorities were given sweeping new powers of general competence, allowing them to embark on almost any project the politicians or staff fancied.

From the provision of Rolls-Royce social services that were traditionally the responsibility of central Government to local think-big projects such as stadiums and events centres, underground streets and inner-city canals, to the operation of risky commercial ventures - underwritten by ratepayers and in competition with the private sector - the sky is their limit.

As a result, around the country rates are rising relentlessly as council debt levels mount and interest payments escalate. With user charges for core services becoming commonplace, it is little wonder that ratepayers - especially those on fixed incomes - are feeling increasingly frustrated and powerless.

Central Government is also adding significantly to that rates burden as they push more responsibilities on to local authorities: there are new strategies for waste minimisation to be developed, costly new dog-control laws to be administered, prostitutes to look out for, and expensive new water quality standards in the pipeline.

Councils are busy drafting policies for trees, for cats, for the elderly - you name it and it's likely to be on the drawing board.

With local government on the brink of a bureaucratic and cost explosion, the time is right to consider the merits of a Ratepayers' Bill of Rights to protect ratepayers from exploitation by empire builders, central planners and activists.

The first requirement of such a bill would be to redirect councils back to providing core services as their prime responsibility. That would mean amending the Local Government Act 2002 to remove the power of general competence and the need to promote the four community well-beings.

The second requirement would be a rates cap to restrict the level of rate increases that a local authority can impose on residents in any one year. The cap would be based on the previous year's rates with an inflation and population growth adjustment.

The third requirement would be to introduce a system of binding ratepayers' referendums, as the Wanganui District Council has done. Using this system, ratepayers can be given a direct say in how their rates are to be spent and their city or district run.

Such a system would also ensure that ratepayers are directly involved in deciding whether those expensive projects that cause so much angst in any community should go ahead.

A Ratepayers' Bill of Rights would restore a sense of power and control over local government back into the hands of the ratepayers who fund it. It would also provide councils with feedback from ratepayers on the best way forward for their community.

* Dr Muriel Newman, a former Act list MP, is chairwoman of her local ratepayers' association and founder of the New Zealand Centre for Political Debate, a web-based think tank at www.nzcpd.com.