{"id":1168,"date":"2025-06-28T07:25:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T19:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daveforcouncil.nz\/?p=922"},"modified":"2025-06-28T07:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T19:25:11","slug":"article-john-macdonald-capping-council-rates-isnt-a-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?p=1168","title":{"rendered":"Article: John MacDonald: Capping council rates isn&#8217;t a solution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newstalkzb.co.nz\/on-air\/christchurch\/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald\/opinion\/john-macdonald-capping-council-rates-isnt-a-solution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a> John MacDonald <a href=\"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/John-MacDonald_-Capping-council-rates-isnt-a-solution.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_924\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-924\" class=\"wp-image-924 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/christchurch-city-council-building2-dec2013-edward-swift.jpg\" alt=\"The Christchurch City Council building (Photo \/ Edward Swift).\" width=\"700\" height=\"395\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-924\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The Christchurch City Council building (Photo \/ Edward Swift).<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/24837961\/episode\/282589306\/?embed=true&amp;pname=newstalkzb_web&amp;sc=podcast_episode_embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger is in campaign mode for this year\u2019s elections, saying that he thinks the Government might be onto a winner with its idea of forcing councils to put a cap on rates increases.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m wondering if Phil does actually think it\u2019s a good idea, or whether he\u2019s just saying it.<\/p>\n<p>Because I think it would create havoc for local councils having Wellington telling them how much they could increase rates each year.<\/p>\n<p>And this isn\u2019t me banging the local democracy drum. This is me taking a commonsense view of things. Something you can\u2019t always credit politicians for \u2013 whether they\u2019re in central or local government.<\/p>\n<p>This idea that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been talking about in the last 24 hours doesn\u2019t fall into the commonsense category.<\/p>\n<p>Because yes, every time I see my rates bills I think, \u201cthat\u2019s a truckload of money\u201d. And like you probably do as well, I wonder where it all goes.<\/p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s what we elect local councils for. We elect them to run the outfit and make the decisions and decide how much they need to charge us ratepayers to pay for it all.<\/p>\n<p>And we have to like it or like it. Pretty hard to lump it.<\/p>\n<p>Which is why it\u2019s very tempting for politicians to bang on about keeping rates down and focusing on the basics. But here\u2019s where all that talk falls over and here\u2019s why it\u2019s nonsense for the Government to think it can tell councils how much more to charge ratepayers each year. And here\u2019s why Phil Mauger is wrong to say that it\u2019s a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>First of all: we\u2019re part of the problem. Because even though we don&#8217;t want to pay more rates, we want more from our local council.<\/p>\n<p>We want libraries staying open later. We want footpaths fixed as soon as we see them start to crack. We want roads fixed, but we don\u2019t want road cones. We want the council to lend us money for community projects but then, when the rubber hits the road, we cry poor and say we can\u2019t afford to pay the interest.<\/p>\n<p>We want, want, want. And that means one of two things: either the council saying no or the politicians saying yes, because they think it\u2019ll get them re-elected.<\/p>\n<p>The other major issue is the whole funding structure for local government.<\/p>\n<p>Which is why I think the Government is taking a very narrow approach here. How on earth the Government thinks it could put a cap on annual rates increases without looking at the wider issue, I don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n<p>And that wider issue is the fact that local councils are being asked to do more and more under their own steam, without any extra funding to make it happen.<\/p>\n<p>Example: the Government wants more tourists coming here, but what about the infrastructure needed to support that growth? The Government doesn\u2019t pay for that. Local councils do.<\/p>\n<p>And the way things are structured at the moment, pretty much the only way they get the money they need to do all the things the Government and us ratepayers want them to do, is to charge rates.<\/p>\n<p>And the more we and the government want the councils to do, the more rates we have to pay.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why this talk from the Government about councils needing to manage their finances better is such nonsense. And Phil Mauger needs to see that too.<\/p>\n<p>He thinks a rates cap could be a way of forcing the city council to look at the way it spends money, saying: \u201cI\u2019m open to it. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s the best thing since sliced bread but I\u2019m certainly open to looking at it. I want rates to be as low as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Phil, the only way that\u2019s going to happen isn\u2019t the Government putting a lid on rates increases. The only way that&#8217;s going to happen is councils stopping themselves kicking cans down the road and not spending money.<\/p>\n<p>We see it time and time again. Councils go for the stuff people can see and ignore the stuff people can\u2019t see. Unsexy stuff like water pipes and sewerage pipes.<\/p>\n<p>They ignore them so well that, one day, it all goes pear-shaped and suddenly they&#8217;re facing a gazillion-dollar upgrade. And how do they pay for that? What&#8217;s the only way they can pay for that?<\/p>\n<p>Increased rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The other major issue is the whole funding structure for local government. Which is why I think the Government is taking a very narrow approach here. How on earth the Government thinks it could put a cap on annual rates increases without looking at the wider issue, I don&#8217;t know. And that wider issue is the fact that local councils are being asked to do more and more under their own steam, without any extra funding to make it happen. Example: the Government wants more tourists coming here, but what about the infrastructure needed to support that growth? The Government doesn\u2019t pay for that. Local councils do. <span style=\"color:#777\"> . . . &rarr; Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?p=1168\">Article: John MacDonald: Capping council rates isn&#8217;t a solution<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7410,"featured_media":669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Article: John MacDonald: Capping council rates isn't a solution.\n\nThe other major issue is the whole funding structure for local government. Which is why I think the Government is taking a very narrow approach here. How on earth the Government thinks it could put a cap on annual rates increases without looking at the wider issue, I don't know. And that wider issue is the fact that local councils are being asked to do more and more under their own steam, without any extra funding to make it happen. Example: the Government wants more tourists coming here, but what about the infrastructure needed to support that growth? The Government doesn\u2019t pay for that. Local councils do.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[120,121,135,107],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election-25","category-from-the-press","category-other","category-podcasts","odd"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?feed=podcast&podcast_series=exposures-the-blog","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"IWWsQQFkVT\"><a href=\"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?p=1168\">Article: John MacDonald: Capping council rates isn&#8217;t a solution<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?p=1168&#038;embed=true#?secret=IWWsQQFkVT\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Article: John MacDonald: Capping council rates isn&#8217;t a solution&#8221; &#8212; Exposures - The Blog\" data-secret=\"IWWsQQFkVT\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! 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