Voucher idea scrapped

A proposal to put a $10 voucher in the hands of Palmerston North ratepayers to assist in the city’s post-coronavirus recovery has gone up in smoke.

Fears of widespread fraud and encouraging economic data were the main reasons Palmerston North City Council voted down the idea at a meeting yesterday.

The voucher idea, floated a week before the meeting, was pitched as a way to get money flowing into the tills of small businesses in the city.

Marketing and communications manager Sacha Haskell said businesses were keen for the voucher, which could only be redeemed if people spent at least $30, as long as it was simple.

The scheme would cost the council about $300,000 and would have been paid through existing budgets.

But it quickly became apparent it was not as simple as it sounded.

Only businesses signed up to the Choose Manawatu¯ campaign, encouraging people to shop at locally owned retailers, would be able to take the voucher.

Then there was the issue of getting the voucher to ratepayers. It could either go in the post to households, with rates bills, or as an insert in a council-produced magazine delivered to letterboxes.

Possible fraudulent use of the voucher, through counterfeit copies, was a key concern for many councillors.

Haskell said it was hard to predict how fraud could affect the scheme, and creating a system to track users would be expensive.

Councillor Susan Baty said it created liability problems because the council would have to pay out on false vouchers.

The alternative was businesses having to wear the $10 cost if the council would not pay out on false vouchers.

Cr Karen Naylor said there were people who might not have $20 to spend with the voucher, and they needed to be considered.

Cr Rachel Bowen suggested allowing people to use the $10 to pay their rates, but Cr Brent Barrett said that was the ‘‘definition of needless bureaucracy’’.

‘‘You take $10 out of the pocket, run it through administrators, then get to put it back in your pocket.’’

He was an avid supporter of the idea at first, but figures given to the council showed spending in the city to the week ending May 17 was only 5 per cent behind the same week in 2019.

The council had only just asked staff to cut back the budget for the year so rates went up by 1.95 per cent instead of the budgeted 4.4 per cent, he said.

‘‘We have to be real, this [voucher] is people’s money.’’

Cr Leonie Hapeta said figures may be nearly back to normal, but there had still been six weeks of pain for small retailers.

‘‘Six weeks is a big hole in your pocket.’’

Mayor Grant Smith said he was optimistic the city would recover, and large businesses were relatively stable.

But small family-owned businesses needed help, which the voucher would provide.

‘‘We can’t be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff when all the closed signs are up.’’

‘‘We can’t be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff when all the closed signs are up.’’

Grant Smith