Council spends more while trimming bill

WELLINGTON city councillors have been meeting this week to decide how to cut $180 million from their budget over the next 10 years.

By the end of yesterday, they had succeeded only in adding $34.4m to the spending bill and increasing the likely burden on ratepayers.

After three days of debate, the council’s strategy and policy committee finally signed off the draft long-term plan yesterday – but with a higher rates bill than when they started.

On Tuesday, Wellington ratepayers faced a 3.3 per cent rise in the next financial year, but by the close of discussions yesterday it was 4.4 per cent.

The increase takes the council over its self-imposed limit of 3.8 per cent. New legislation requires councils to agree financial strategies setting limits, and comes as Local Government Minister Nick Smith moves to pare back their responsibilities to core services. However, there is no formal penalty for breaching the limits.

Councillors were warned last year that they needed to cut spending by $180m in the next decade to cover items that include $100m for leaky homes liability and $44m to earthquakestrengthen buildings.

Frustration boiled over as they balked at proposed cuts. ‘‘The whole thing’s becoming farcical – why don’t we just put everything back in,’’ Cr Jo Coughlan said at one point.

But Mayor Celia Wade-brown was confident the rates bill would come down by the time the plan is adopted in June.

The council had made a ‘‘reasonable start’’ but more work would be done, including public consultation. The council had asked officers to find $100m of savings over 10 years from the renewals budget, which funds the maintenance of assets, she said.

Among projects contributing to the growing rates bill was a doubling of funding for a replacement venue while Wellington Town Hall is being earthquake-strengthened, taking the amount to $4m. The venue will be out of