Local government
Rising, falling or freezing real estate prices are one area where mayoral candidates have tried to differentiate themselves – but how different are their campaign promises?
As Aucklanders begin to fill out their ballot papers, a common question is what this election will cost the city.
For some, it’s a matter of financial prudence, with property owners keeping an eye on general rate hikes and suggestions of unprecedented costs for unfinished projects like the City Rail Link that is putting the municipality in the red.
For others, the costs may be more abstract: the missed opportunities to bolster public transportation and social services as balms to the city’s rising cost of living and the need to respond to climate change.
For most voters, frontrunners Wayne Brown and Efeso Collins have already claimed their territory on different sides of that debate, with Brown claiming to be the only mayoral candidate who will prioritize restricting tariffs and Collins leading campaigns for big ideas like being tariff-free. public transport.
With just over two weeks left in their campaign and the two frontrunners closing in the polls with Wayne Brown taking the lead according to yesterday’s Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance – Curia poll, they will be preparing to sprint home. At the same time, both candidates and experts have doubled their distinguishing marks.
But how differently do Brown and Collins judge when it comes to rates?
While Brown has presented itself as the no-nonsense and penny-wise choice that could finally do the big projects and Collins has promised a more extensive menu of municipal services, the gap doesn’t seem to be that big when you look at the promises around rates themselves.
Whether these promises come true after the weekend of October 8 is another question.
Real estate fees fund about $2 billion or 40 percent of the municipality’s activities, which the municipality itself outlines as collecting garbage, improving public transportation, organizing and facilitating events, maintaining parks, running libraries and other community amenities .
According to the 2022/2023 budget, the board will spend $2.8 billion on capital expenditures and $5.11 billion on operating expenses, increasing to 3.5 percent.
Collins has said he will keep the increases at that level for the first year of his tenure, but has not made any firm, quick commitments after that.
He has said he will keep rates below the nationally deemed affordable level of 5 percent of median household income.
With rates currently reported at 3.37 percent of median household income, the 0.2 percent increase Collins allowed himself in the first year of a first term would represent an increase of about $170 for most homeowners.
It’s less than the cost of a flat white a week, so will Collins be able to keep his promise?
One of his biggest platform swings is the promise of free public transportation, which he has said will have flow-through effects, such as getting customers to catering establishments in the city’s various centers and cutting emissions.
It also sounds like a very expensive venture to launch while staying within those rates.
Collins, however, pointed out a report written by Dr Jen McArthur, associate professor of urban infrastructure and policy at University College London.
McArthur’s report suggested that free public transit would cost $236 million a year, with potential increases if public transportation use increased as a result of the scheme.
She explained funding paths that can be leveraged without rate increases, such as using central government budgets for health and climate change or reorganizing existing municipal funding without cutting core services.
“In 2021 Auckland Transport invested $291 million in new road infrastructure, suggesting that reallocating some of the funds set aside for road improvements could be used to fund free public transport,” McArthur writes. “In turn, better public transportation would use road space more efficiently and reduce the need for road capacity upgrades.”
Major projects can be paid for with a little garage sale by the council, but Collins is also committed to preserving strategic assets such as Auckland Airport and Auckland’s ports.
One possible source of income could come from lobbying central government to give local governments across the country a bit of a tax break.
“I will strongly advocate through a coalition of mayors that the central government return GST revenue from tariffs to local councils,” he said.
Collins said the council’s current long-term plan commits to a 3.5 percent increase through 2023 and 2024, and he plans to stick to that, barring unforeseen circumstances.
“Service cuts of $30 million, asset sales targets, business savings and deferral of capital projects are already built into next year’s budget,” he said. “If everything is equal and according to predictions, that is my bet. Of course, unexpected shocks will be absorbed as they always have been, but they cannot necessarily be predicted.”
He expects that any new priorities for the next council term can be accommodated within the existing budget, with new ideas having the opportunity to be thrown around the table after the adoption of the new multi-year budget in 2024.
“The 10-year long-term plan in 2024 is a more appropriate place to consider the longer-term challenges and priorities, trade-offs and broader consultation with Aucklanders on the longer-term direction of the council,” he said.
Beyond that, he ruled out yesterday that taking a firm position would be imprudent.
“I appreciate the support my tariff policy has received from voters and I can see Aucklanders being mature enough to realize that instituting arbitrary tariff policies without knowing what the future may hold is unnecessary, unfair and potentially dangerous,” he said.
Because rate decisions are made in consultation with the public and other councilors, Collins said it was not appropriate for candidates to make any commitments on rates.
“Auckland Council needs bold leadership and as the governing body has a legal responsibility to consult on its budgets and respond to global and national economic conditions, that will guide me as mayor,” he said. “For this reason, I will not lock up Aucklanders in a position that is not based on prudence and facts.”
Brown, on the other hand, has led the way with his tariff promises, saying he is the “best choice for voters looking to keep tariffs in check.”
Brown’s tariff policy has generally been linked to his criticism of major projects linked to the council with outstanding bills that he fears could be placed at the taxpayers’ feet in Auckland.
Chief among these is the City Rail Link, which has seen increasing costs over the years of construction. The last cost breakdown provided by City Rail Link Ltd was in April 2019 at $4.4 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 2014. These increases were attributed to competitive pressures within the construction industry and the growing scope of the project.
But with the pandemic likely to have had its own costly impact on the project’s cost and timetable, Brown has said other major projects such as Collins’ free public transit or Viv Beck’s reopening of the Albert Park Tunnel, have since had to be rescheduled. reopened. the back burner.
“We now know that there are some big bills coming – and that shit will have to be paid,” he said. “I am the only candidate who has not set up fantasy projects such as a large new stadium, 100 percent taxpayers for public transport or a new tunnel under Albert Park. My promise is to get projects back on track and get costs under control.”
Brown has had his own qualms about tariffs in his personal life, having been involved in a… years of stoush about how much he owed to a Kerikeri development when he was mayor of Far North.
He has also spoken out about reducing council salaries, drawing heavily on his history as chairman of organizations such as the Auckland District Health Board, delivering the hospital’s redevelopment project on budget.
Getting value for money was a constant theme throughout his campaign. He does not think that the municipality has succeeded in this and calls projects such as the Karangahape Road bicycle route wasteful.
“I’m boring about the numbers,” he said during a mayor’s debate at Karangahape Road’s Whammy Bar last month. “When I was up north, we rolled out coast-to-coast bike paths for $100 dollars a meter — the bike path here was $12,000 a meter.”
But as media commentators like Russell Brown (who chaired the Karangahape Road debate) have noted, that price tag has included extensive replacements of outdated under-road pipes and road pavement. It’s a different level of urban work than the mostly unpaved Twin Coast Cycle Path in Northland.
And while Brown has labeled himself against inappropriate rate hikes, he hasn’t set the exact level of freeze or cap he’ll commit to.
Polling 8 per cent in the latest result, likely in third place with Viv Beck dropping out, is fellow ex-engineer Craig Lord. He says he will not vote for anything other than increases linked to the consumer price index and thus linked to inflation.
“Of course, who wouldn’t like to have them downsized? But history tells us that’s just a wild dream. Who knows, maybe I can be the one to achieve it,” he said.
Lord said he had had an in-depth conversation with councilor Desley Simpson about council spending.
“She is adamant that there are many more to be found, and she has done a good job with her team so far to find many,” he said. “I will work with her to do more.”
Ted Johnston, co-leader of the New Conservatives, meanwhile, wants to lead a council that lives within its means.
“No new taxes,” he said. “Keep the rates low, preferably no increase, through less waste, incompetence, ideological and wish list spending in the council.”
He also wants to re-examine the rating system and remove regional taxes and congestion charges.
There has been little argument from any of the candidates on the campaign trail that the council has little leeway financially.
However, there seems to be a strange pattern in them – it is the candidates most concerned about the council’s debts who also sell their candidacy against opposing rate hikes.
Like all issues that come up in the podiums of candidate debates, it is ultimately up to Auckland’s voters to decide in which direction the city will travel.
And when it comes to rates, municipal revenues and services, it can come down to how much you prefer your variety of local governments. There’s the bigger side, with Collins talking about ambitious transport plans and free bus rides, and there’s Brown putting the kibosh on new projects for the foreseeable future or Lord reducing the council to core services.