Rates rise stays at 8.9 per cent
A U-turn on commuter parking, numerous budgeting decisions made little difference for city ratepayers
‘‘It’s mean spirited, it’s ad hoc and we are slipping it through the back door . . . I’m not impressed at all.’’ Geoff Taylor
After three solid days of bickering, number crunching and U-turns, the Hamilton City Council has failed to whittle down a projected 8.9 per cent rates increase by a single decimal point.
The council has set the rate for the 2021/22 financial year in its long term plan deliberations as well as ongoing rates increases of 4.9 per cent for each of the following two years.
As the long term plan deliberations progressed and, evidently alarmed their labours were making very little impact on the projected rates increase, councillors made some big budgeting decisions towards the end of the process.
These include ordering $5m of additional revenue be squeezed from the Hamilton Gardens; downsizing a sponsored graduate programme for staff for a saving of $2.5m; and – perhaps most significantly – making a U-turn on paid commuter parking on the city fringe.
That decision, which will take effect from 2024, will lead to an extra
$7.5 million in revenue over the
10-year period, but will also be likely to frustrate the 63 per cent of submitters to the plan who opposed it – and probably thought they had seen the last of it following an earlier budgeting decision made on Tuesday.
And, late on Wednesday, councillors also trimmed out $2 million from their own district plan budget.
It all proved to be ultimately ineffectual.
‘‘The last few days have been pretty arduous,’’ Mayor Paula Southgate said at the conclusion of the day’s proceedings.
‘‘Anyone who has tried to keep their balance for a long time knows it’s not easy and we have certainly discovered that over the last few days.
‘‘We have been a little like a seesaw, putting in and out various items.
I would have preferred that we would have been able to respond to the ratepayers’ requests to reduce rates
. . . however that is democracy.
‘‘We have got where we got, and I respect the decision of the majority of council’’.
‘‘Sometimes in this job you have to make decisions that are quite unpopular.’’
Deputy mayor Geoff Taylor’s fury at having to accept the commuter parking decision was thinly veiled.
‘‘We made a careful decision after a good debate . . . but now because we have got some dollar signs in our eyes that we are trying to save we are making an ad hoc, hurried decision.
‘‘It’s mean spirited, it’s ad hoc and we are slipping it through the back door . . . I’m not impressed at all.’’
Under a plan proposed by Cr Dave Macpherson, the commuter parking scheme will kick in a year later than originally envisaged and the details of precisely how much will be charged, and where, will need to be worked out. It will go to the public for consultation and will ultimately be approved or rejected.
‘‘It’s a slower start in year three and addresses issues like headroom and revenue in years four and five.’’
Angela O’Leary was also not comfortable with the 8.9 per cent rates increase ‘‘and I know none of us are.
But we have responded through this whole process to what the community has asked for’’.
Not every cost-saving measure proposed by the councillors yesterday was successful.
Cr Kesh Naidoo-Rauf moved for a planned staff payrise of 3 per cent for the 2021/22 financial year be trimmed back to 2.5 per cent, which would have brought a saving of $5.8 million.
After a lengthy debate, councillors ended up being deadlocked six-all on the matter, and Southgate used her casting vote to maintain the status quo – despite speaking in favour of Naidoo-Rauf’s motion.
Meanwhile Founders Theatre –
these days the gathering venue of choice for Hamilton’s vagrants – will continue to loom on the city landscape for at least another year, at a cost to ratepayers of at least $150,000.
A resounding 84 per cent of submitters to the council’s long term plan supported bulldozing the ageing theatre – which has sat empty after being deemed an earthquake risk in 2016 – and turn the site into a multi-purpose outdoor activity space at a one-off cost of $3.9 million. Retaining the theatre building was an option favoured by just 3 per cent of submitters to the plan.
In spite of this, 10 out of the 12 politicians in the council chamber yesterday decided to give six months of ‘‘breathing room’’ to the Theatre of the Impossible Trust (TOTI), to put together a full proposal and find $10 million to renovate and repurpose the 59-year-old building as a community centre.
Founded and chaired by industrialist and academic Bill McArthur, the public face of the trust is former Hamilton mayor Margaret Evans, who asked the council during plan submissions for additional time to find backers and come up with a plan for theatre refurbishment.
Whether funders can be found willing to stump up that money, and what the community centre will look like remain, at this stage, unknown – however the trust has found a champion in the council chamber in the form of Cr Martin Gallagher.
‘‘I’m pleading for more time . . . It would be extremely sad if we resolve to demolish a structure that has meant so much to so many Hamiltonians.’’
Southgate and Taylor were the lone voices in favour of demolishing the theatre.
Taylor said any revamp would turn an already ugly building into ‘‘a patchwork quilt ... surrounded by hyperdermic needles and condoms.
‘‘It’s irresponsible to keep frittering away ratepayer money because we can’t make a decision.’’
The council has previously estimated it would cost $12m to $20m to restore the theatre to its previous life. All the long term plan decisions will be ratified and the rates increase struck at a council meeting on June 24.