A Springvale pensioner turns his hot water cylinder on only once a week so that he can afford to pay his rates bill, Whanganui councillor David Bennett told his fellows.
Councillors talked about the increased cost of staff wages and how that affects rates as they deliberated on their 2019-20annual plan on May 22.
David Richardson was one of 37 who made submissions to the plan. He said rates took up 15 per cent of his income and asked councillors to show compassion by keeping rates down.
Whanganui District Council's annual personnel cost is about to rise 6.7 per cent from the previous year, which means another $1.25 million will be needed to pay wages and salaries.
Councillor Rob Vinsen proposed limiting the increase to 5 per cent - which would shave $288,000 off the rates bill. He said former CEO Kevin Ross had managed to cut $200,000 from wages in a previous year.
But council CEO Kym Fell said that increase wasn't a straight increase in wages and salaries. There were also extra staff, port staff to be paid by council, wastewater treatment plant staff, New Zealand Glassworks staff, an extra animal control officer and roles coming in-house rather than going to contractors.
Councillors had asked for the extra services, and more had been loaded on by central government, councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay said.
The council was running tight, with no fat in the system, Fell said.
"It's a $90 million business. If you want something to stop, let me know."
Several councillors said Vinsen's "last minute" motion to limit the wage increase was badly timed. It flew in the face of the "good, honest, budget-building process" councillors had been engaged in, Kate Joblin said.
Councillor Jenny Duncan said it was the councillors' job to decide on levels of service - and the CEO's job to provide them efficiently. Councillor Helen Craig challenged Vinsen to convince everyone about what he wanted cut.
But Vinsen said his motion was the result of a submission from a ratepayer, and councillor Graeme Young said it was the council's first opportunity to discuss it.
"If this isn't the right time, then the 37 submitters [to the annual plan] wasted their time."
Councillor Bennett said this is a time of rampant wage increases, and it is almost inevitable that the council should think about reducing levels of service. Councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan said the $1.25m increase was significant and should have been raised earlier.
Four Whanganui councillors attempted to limit any increase in the council's wage bill to 5 per cent - but the motion was lost. Photo file / Stuart Munro
Only councillors Vinsen, Bennett, Baker-Hogan and Young voted to limit the increase in personnel cost, and the motion was lost.
