Cull calls for alternative funding

DUNEDIN Mayor Dave Cull says alternative ways to fund community infrastructure are needed after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took regional fuel taxes off the table.

Mr Cull, who is also the president of Local Government New Zealand, was commenting on Ms Ardern’s announcement on Wednesday, ruling out any more regional fuel taxes while she is Prime Minister.

The move came after the Government passed a law earlier this year allowing Auckland to introduce an 11.5cperlitre tax and left the door open for other councils to follow suit from 2021.

Mr Cull had earlier suggested a regional fuel tax could help pay for Dunedin projects such as the State Highway 88 cycleway to Port Chalmers, which would help make roads safer and more efficient for all users.

Yesterday, Mr Cull said there was ‘‘no doubt’’ regional fuel taxes could be useful for funding infrastructure, but they also ‘‘disproportionately’’ affected people on lower incomes and were not an incentive for growth.

Another approach, such as giving councils a share of GST, would create an incentive for growth, as the more an investment paid off and delivered economic development, the greater the benefit for councils.

‘‘It’s a kind of virtuous circle.’’ ‘‘I think the challenge is for Government to find more constructive local funding lines for local government.

‘‘We do know that we need to fund infrastructure, and we have got a lot of challenges ahead of us, so the challenge for central government is to find ways of enabling that.’’