Outrage forces ARC rethink

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Auckland Regional Council chairwoman Gwen Bull says she will hold a meeting to rethink controversial rates rises if a majority of councillors demand it.

Mrs Bull's comments come just a day after North Shore City Council voted unanimously to ask the ARC to urgently review the new rates, which have seen some ratepayers facing increases of up to 600 per cent.

The council also decided to ask Auckland MPs for a meeting on the issue and to write to the Auditor-General about the rates' legality.

Mrs Bull said a meeting of the ARC could be held if councillors wanted to consider the situation, including calls for postponing the first rates payment date.

Her comments indicate a softening of her position since last week when she defended the new ARC rating system - which has eased the burden on business and increased costs to homeowners - as fair.

Five ARC councillors voted against the rating system and seven, including Mrs Bull, voted in favour when the council held its rates meeting on June 23. One councillor, Michael Barnett, abstained.

The revolt against the new rate is growing as bills are mailed out across the city. This week, residents in Manukau and Waitakere began opening their demands after protests erupted on the North Shore at bills delivered two weeks ago.

The revolt is likely to generate further momentum this weekend with protest meetings planned around Auckland.

One of the five ARC councillors who opposed the rates system, Sandra Coney, said last night that it was too early to say whether councillors would move to call a meeting by the August 1 date sought by North Shore.

The ARC held its monthly meeting only last Monday.

Mrs Bull said the question of whether the rates payment due date could be delayed was a matter for the full council.

In other rates revolt moves yesterday, North Shore City's own rating system came under attack from the city's elected representative on the ARC, Ian Bradley.

Mr Bradley said the city's rating system was archaic, anti-business and a reason home-owners faced an ARC rates rise of more than 200 per cent. He said businesses were subsidising the city's general rate by almost 10 to one and the council was unable to justify this to him apart from saying businesses could claim back part of it on their taxes.

The ARC's decision not to have a business differential in its rating policy was in line with Government insistence that all regional ratepayers be treated equally, he said.

North Shore's policy and councillors came under further attack from the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern).

Its chief executive, Alasdair Thompson, said the city's rates policy had driven businesses away.

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