KEY POINTS:
Wanganui mayor Michael Laws today slammed a move by metropolitan mayors to have the government bail them out of their financial obligations to leaky home owners.
"Very simply, the bail-out would be a direct theft from the taxpayer to incompetent councils. It penalises councils like Wanganui who have building and consents staff who actually did and do their job.
Laws said it also penalised Wanganui taxpayers, who would be required to pay for the errors and omissions of Auckland and Wellington councils.
The Herald on Sunday earlier reported the country's two largest cities were preparing to go to the Government in a bid to convince it to accept most of the liability for the billion-dollar leaky homes crisis.
It said Auckland Mayor John Banks and Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast would put up a proposal that would see homeowners pay no more than a quarter of their leaky home repair costs.
Under the plan, the Government would meet most of the liability for the leaky homes crisis, with smaller contributions from building firms and architects. At present, homeowners are liable, with many trapped in their rotting homes.
They have to sue local councils, architects and builders to recoup their losses.
But Laws said councils like Wanganui paid for everything with very little assistance from government.
"We don't get the kind of extra roading assistance or financial support provided to the Aucklands and Wellingtons of this world.
"And when we get into any trouble - or are required to upgrade our infrastructure - then the financial responsibility goes back on us."
An estimated 80,000 people across the country are living in homes that have either leaked or are at high risk of leaking.
Local councils across New Zealand face an estimated total bill of between $660 million and $2.1 billion.
Labour's Minister of Building and Construction, Shane Jones, said he did not have a "silver bullet" to fix the problem but understood metropolitan mayors were "grappling with the financial costs" of what was a major crisis.
"It's unfair to say the homeowners are at blame here, but I understand where Mayor Banks is coming from," he said.
"But understanding and agreeing are some distance apart. If they want to meet in the near or distant future that's reasonable."
- NZPA
