ACT’s Local Government spokesperson Cameron Luxton is urging Wellington City Council to dig deep on cuts to wasteful spending as it revisits its long-term plan following the cancellation of the sale of the Council’s airport shares this week.

“With or without the sale, it’s clear that that the council is spending far too much, hiking rates too far, and strangling the life out of the city,” says Mr Luxton.

“It is a failure of governance that the Mayor and those councillors in favour of the sale were not able to convince their colleagues that the proceeds from the sale would not be wasted.

“No council should own an airport, but equally, no council should be spending as recklessly as Wellington is.

“Looking at the previously approved long-term plan, and related documents, obvious areas for savings include:

• $112.9m to remove car access along the Golden mile
• At least $104.4m on rescuing the city library
• $115.2m on cycle lanes
• $114m on a food waste recycling scheme and wheelie bins for general rubbish to be collected less frequently than the status quo

“These obvious areas for savings just scratch the service but collectively would far outstrip the roughly $321 million value of the airport shares.

“With the dire state of the council’s finances, even sacred cows like the wrecked Town Hall and the zoo should be on the table for sale.

“This week’s decision was a scathing indictment on the Council’s ability to serve the people on Wellington. But if the failure to sell airport shares forces the Council to take a hard look at its spending, that’s a silver lining.

“The introduction of unelected commissioners, as we saw in Tauranga, would be a disastrous outcome. Wellington’s council must urgently demonstrate its competence, dig deep to cut low-value spending and liquidate assets, and finally show some respect to ratepayers.”

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