“Is rates capping on or off the agenda” Mayor Williams asks Rodney Hide.

North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams has written to Local Government Minister Rodney Hide asking him to confirm the government has dropped a proposal to cap local authority rates and inviting him to visit North Shore to give him a better appreciation of the wonderful work community groups carry out on the Shore to support the social, cultural, environmental and economic well being of our communities.

“At last week’s Local Government New Zealand Conference, we welcomed Rodney Hide’s statement that the government has now abandoned his proposal to cap local authority rates because this means that they are now taking a more realistic and pragmatic approach to their ‘core services’ review which will be music to the ears of our Council funded community groups and community programmes,” Mayor Williams said.

“At the conference, Rodney Hide said “I am not proposing these measures” when discussing rate capping or rate setting by central government, when only back in March this year he said that he wants rates rises “capped at the rate of inflation, or less."

“Yet only yesterday in Parliament, when asked which of these two statements by the Minister were correct, he said “both of them.” We need a clear and unequivocal statement from Rodney Hide that his latest statement that rate capping is off the agenda is in fact the government’s position, so that our community can be reassured.”

“I have written to Rodney Hide asking him to confirm that he has indeed abandoned his rates capping proposal to be doubly certain it is now history, and inviting him to visit North Shore to meet with myself, the Council and our community group and programme leaders so that he can see for himself and develop a deeper appreciation of the wonderful work they undertake for our local community.”

“I have also invited Rodney Hide to sit down with our Council and Local Government New Zealand to explore workable mechanisms to keep future rates rises at acceptable levels given the big spike in infrastructure costs over the next decade we face to provide adequate sewerage, water and roads, as acknowledged by the Minister of Finance, Hon Bill English, in July.”

“North Shore City is justifiably proud of the community work that our city champions and funds to support the social, cultural, environmental and economic well being of our communities, and I am certain Rodney Hide will derive benefit from the visit because it will provide him with real life ‘on the ground’ experiences and examples he can use in the upcoming debate around the Cabinet table when considering the Local Government Act review recommendations,” Mayor Williams said.

ENDS

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