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Pressure is mounting on the Auckland City Council's major political parties to stop big water bills and go back to selling water at the minimum price.
Former deputy mayor David Hay is expected to run for council again at October's local body elections and is urging his right-leaning Citizens and Ratepayers Now ticket to stop putting up water bills to bank bigger profits from Metrowater.
Mr Hay said the council-owned water company was established in 1997 to provide world-class water services at the "minimum price". It was now clearly being used as a "cash cow" to hold rates down.
The left-leaning City Vision ticket is also coming under pressure to stop bigger water bills. These have risen by 9.6 per cent and 9.1 per cent in consecutive years on top of a planned 33 per cent rise in household rates in the first term of Mayor Dick Hubbard and his City Vision-Labour-controlled council.
Speaking as a City Vision politician, Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee has told City Vision leader Dr Hucker to stop "thumbing his nose at a majority of his team members and trashing City Vision's election policies" or quit and stand for C&R Now.
City Vision councillor Neil Abel said yesterday he no longer regarded Dr Hucker as leader because he was not adhering to City Vision policy on Metrowater. Labour councillor Richard Northey said his leader was "a long way behind" City Vision policy.
Dr Hucker has been one of the strongest supporters of a policy shift to run Metrowater along more commercial lines by pushing up prices to pay for a $280 million dividend over 10 years. Dr Hucker and Mr Hubbard believe the old policy led to ratepayers subsidising water and the council should get a return on capital in the $1 billion water company.
When Metrowater was established, Dr Hucker said the policy of user charges for water was harder on low and moderate income families. This week, he said the increases in water and wastewater services for an average family of four this year and next amounted to the cost of half a large bag of potato chips or less than the cost of a 1.5 litre bottle of soft drink a week.
Dr Hucker, who is a Labour Party member, has refused to discuss Mr Lee's comment to change his ways or quit City Vision.
Mr Hay said he voted "reluctantly" for Metrowater to pay the council a $5 million dividend during the last term of council. It was on the basis it would not become a permanent payment and was matched by a 10 per cent prompt payment discount.
He said if he had his way, the C&R Now election manifesto would stop the "rort" of paying the council dividends and go back to the original policy.
"That is to make sufficient profit, and only sufficient, to invest into water and wastewater infrastructure to maintain a world-class system," Mr Hay said.
Last night, C&R Now finance spokesman Doug Armstrong refused to commit to abandoning the policy of higher water bills for bigger dividends.
Mr Armstrong said he wanted a wide review of Metrowater.
"There will probably be some reductions in the level of charitable payments [dividends]," he said.
Using papers obtained under the Official Information Act and other sources, the Herald last week calculated the rise over 10 years to be 140 per cent.
The council did not produce its own figures at that time.
Yesterday, the council issued figures to show the increase was 65.8 per cent to pay for the $280 million dividend and increased prices from the region's bulk water supplier, Watercare.
