Sir Barry to rescue over rates

The country's most senior local government politician is offering to help the Auckland Regional Council to sort out the rates problems that have angered ratepayers from Pukekohe to Warkworth.

Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis has just returned from a fortnight overseas to find ratepayers groups calling for the ARC to review its rating of 450,000 properties.

Sir Barry said he regretted that the ARC had "missed the boat" on its first attempt at direct rating and wanted to help.

ARC chairman Gwen Bull was a fine woman, he said, and he was sorry she was being castigated.

Sir Barry said he supported the ARC move to ask ratepayers to provide an extra $27 million to pay for improvements to public transport, including suburban trains and the North Shore Busway.

He could understand why people were angry about the size of ARC rate increases.

The regional council was inexperienced in direct rating matters and ignored Manukau City's advice to use differential rating, which was fairer.

He knew from his experience as a mayor of 20 years that if the ARC had followed this advice it would not be facing calls to scrap its system.

On Wednesday, the North Shore City Council weighed in to the debate with support for a call for the ARC to hold an urgent rates review meeting before next Friday.

Last night one of the five councillors who oppose the rating system, Mike Lee, said Mrs Bull had asked councillors if the ARC should hold a meeting, but he had not heard the result of the poll.

Mrs Bull could not be contacted.

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