Revolt spreads as more bills go out

By BERNARD ORSMAN and ANNE BESTON

The ratepayer revolt against Auckland Regional Council rates is building, and the first bills will arrive in letterboxes south of the Harbour Bridge next week.

Thousands of homes in the western suburbs of Auckland City, all of Waitakere City and more than half of Manukau City's 86,000 households will be billed from Monday.

The remainder of Rodney and Takanini in the Papakura District Council area will also be billed.

Wake Up Auckland, a group set up to oppose the policies of Auckland City Mayor John Banks and his council allies, said yesterday that city ratepayers should refuse to pay the ARC rates.

Spokeswoman Marney Ainsworth said Wake Up Auckland planned meetings to protest at the rates increases.

The Auckland City Residents and Ratepayers organisation has arranged a meeting of ratepayer associations on July 26 to draw up a set of performance measures to hold councillors accountable.

Spokeswoman Elaine West said the measures would include keeping rates to the level of inflation and giving rebates to people on low incomes.

Figures supplied by councils and the ARC show householders can expect their rates to double on average in Auckland City from $131 last year to $284, rise by two-thirds in Manukau to $194 and rise in Waitakere by 40 per cent to $191.



The biggest winners are North Shore businesses, which on average will pay $890 less in ARC rates this year under the ARC's no-differential, business-friendly policy.

Martin Lawes, who owns a Thai restaurant and nine other tenancies in a Takapuna building, said his ARC rate went from $3600 to $1500, which was a useful saving.

ARC councillor Sandra Coney said the major factor in huge rate fluctuations was the shifting of the rates burden from business to residential.

"A group of us pushed for a business differential but the other councillors wouldn't wear it."

Sandra Coney, one of five councillors to oppose the rating system, said the no-differential policy added $375 to her ARC bill. Transport added $151.

Another councillor, Craig Little, said his frustration was with councillors who gave no thought to the effect the no-differential policy would have on individuals.

But the chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern), Alasdair Thompson, said the ARC had rightly ended the disgraceful practice of forcing commercial property owners to pay a heavy subsidy for council services.