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Ryan Bridge: My thoughts on rates caps · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A rates cap is one of those policies that immediately
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: sounds so appealing. Doesn't it look no further than yesterday's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: CPI number. It's one of your top three inflation feeders rates.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: So throw a cap on him, tie their hands behind
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: their backs, rain these guys in get rid of the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars bike rack over here, the multi
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: million dollar disco toilet over there, the coffee machines for
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: staff over there, and practice, though, how do you actually
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: make it work without starving these councils of revenue? They
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: actually need to fix the pipes. I spoke to Ben
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Bell from Gore yesterday. He said almost ninety percent of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: their spending goes on basics, pipes and roads. The rest
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: is nice to have, which he described as libraries and
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the swimming pools. No club sandwiches. At the council meetings
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: in Gore, they are drinking instant coffee. I can report
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to you this morning. And yet Gore's rate increases have
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: been double digit or close to it for several years.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: They'll be close to double digits again this year. And
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: despite that, and the voters knew it, the good people
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of Gore have re elected Bell for a second term
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: quite handsomely. So we say we want lower rates. Of
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: course we do, but the question is what will it
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: cost us? Will capping them actually hurt us a local
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: economy productivity efficiency if you delay or shelf projects. Last
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: week Wayne Brown told me on Herald Now that Auckland
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: could have a zero increase next year. Doesn't that sound amazing?
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: A zero increase next year if it wasn't for the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: City rail Link, the spending coming online for the city
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: railing because it's opening up, it's a major transport project.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: It'll in theory benefit Auckland and the country who paid
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: for it. Well, we all did, the jaffers and the taxpayers.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: If we want lower rates, we could just not run
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: any trains on the tracks. But is that sensible? Don't
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: get me wrong here. I am the first to criticize
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the big spending bozos who chuck money at dumb stuff.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: But most council spending isn't that. Most of it is
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: stuff that we need. D Day is looming for the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: government's plan to cap rates, and it needs to be
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: a measured response. We need spending on pipes and roads
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: to continue, and waste on disco loes somehow flush down
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the duney. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks itt B from five am weekdays,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio