Responding to Greater Wellington Regional Council's proposal to hike its rates by 19.8% for the 2024/25 financial year, Taxpayers Union spokesman, Alex Murphy, said:

"Time and again we see councils come up with these ludicrous rates hikes to scare ratepayers into thinking that this is just the way it has to be – but this couldn't be further from the truth.

"For a council that has a higher percentage of staff earning over $100,000 than any other, Greater Wellington Regional Council are about as primed and ready as it gets to cut down on the back-office bureaucracy and start making savings.

"Pair that with the $75 million the Council spent on consultants and contractors last year, and the $4,000 that went towards purchasing Snapper Cards for MPs to get around Wellington, and it becomes perfectly clear what areas of waste the Council could tackle first.

"The bell we keep ringing might continue to fall on councillors' deaf ears, but that doesn’t mean we should stop ringing it. GWRC need to realise that proposing a rates hike of over 4 times the level of inflation isn't just unacceptable, it's unjustifiable."

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