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Auckland residents face a larger than planned 5 percent increase in their fee bills to help cover a $ 1 billion drop in council revenue over the next four years.
The one-time boost, above a planned 3.5 percent increase, will add $ 36 to the rate bill for an average-value home before annual increases revert to the previous trajectory of 3.5 percent increases. .
The measure is in a proposal released Tuesday by Mayor Phil Goff as part of Auckland City Council’s 10-year budget update, which begins next July.
Other strategies this year include locking in $ 90 million in cost cuts, making sure the savings remain permanent for all three years.
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“Without a set of measures to counter the $ 1 billion financial hole caused by Covid, our city will back down,” Goff said.
Goff said the increased revenue would allow capital spending to continue at $ 31 billion a year, compared to $ 26 billion projected in the previous version of the 10-year budget.
The council had looked at a specific rate of $ 36 per taxpayer to fund climate change action, but opted instead for a higher increase in overall rates, on a similar scale.
Ricky Wilson / Stuff
Discussion of a specific rate to finance climate change mitigation has not produced any additional funding initiatives.
Environment and climate change committee chair Richard Hills said councilors wanted climate change to be “business as usual.”
There is an additional proposal of $ 150 million, over a decade, for measures against climate change, such as ending the purchase of new diesel buses and having almost half of the zero-emission vehicles in the fleet of 1,360 buses by 2030.
While the additional 1.5 percent rate increase is unique, the higher payment level becomes permanent, providing an additional $ 25 million in cash annually and allowing an additional loan of about $ 72 million annually.
RYAN ANDERSON / Stuff
Up to 600 electric or hydrogen buses will be purchased by 2030 to replace diesel engines, based on the council’s proposed budget.
Based on the annual “mark” of council budgets, Goff calls it the Recovery Budget, which provides key services, maintains and replaces assets, and builds new infrastructure.
Other charge increases still pending are likely a higher than normal increase in water charges, established by the council’s subsidiary Watercare.
Goff declined to reveal how high those could be, saying that while Watercare had told him where his thoughts were going, the decision was theirs and that no speculation would be allowed.
The mayor said he had not been given any indication of the level of increase in passenger transport rates, which the Auckland Transport board was considering on Tuesday.
Ricky Wilson / Stuff
Mayor Phil Goff says the increased revenue would allow Auckland Council capital spending to continue at $ 31 billion a year.
A strong level of continued investment in infrastructure had been possible by raising the level of indebtedness above the thresholds that the council had imposed in the past.
The council’s debt-to-revenue ratio is normally set at 270%, but over three years it will be 290%, financing an additional $ 450 million of infrastructure investment.
A new goal had been to raise revenue from the sale of surplus properties to $ 70 million a year, but Goff insisted that the council’s 18 percent stake in Auckland Airport was not on the asset sale list.
