This piece originally ran in the Sunday Star-Times' Auckland Local pages 9 August, attributed to Auckland Council Chief Executive, Phil Wilson.
There are some things in life we only think about when they stop working.
Wi-Fi, for example. The office air-conditioning. Various body parts, once you reach a certain age.
Cities are a bit like that too. Few of us get out of bed wondering how the stormwater network performed overnight, or pause to admire traffic lights for turning green at the right time. We expect our sports fields to be mown when we arrive for Saturday football, water to disappear down the drains after a downpour and the bins to be collected each week without fail.
None of these things happen by magic, of course, nor do they come for free.
Over the past week, rates notices for the new financial year have begun going out to around 650,000 households and businesses around Auckland. For the owner of an average-priced residential property, the annual cost will equate to around $85 per week.
Many people will wonder what they get for that money, and why it’s gone up by about six dollars a week since last year. Those questions are fair. Plenty of Aucklanders are feeling the pressure of increased costs right now, and ratepayers deserve to know every dollar they pay to council will be spent carefully.
The visibility challenge
Seeing the value in rates can be difficult because while the bill itself is right in front of you, many of the services councils provide are not. Monitoring water quality at beaches, for example. Clearing streams to prevent flooding. Inspecting restaurants to check food is safe, stopping shoddy building work in its tracks and lifting dangerous dogs from the streets before they attack.
These services are essential for a safe and functioning city, but they’re not front of mind for many Aucklanders unless something goes wrong.
Another less visible but essential responsibility for the council is ongoing maintenance and upgrades to our assets and infrastructure. Anyone who’s put off visiting the dentist for a toothache knows the danger of delaying repairs, and the same principle applies to our roads, pipes and civic buildings. Could we think of more exciting ways to spend money than on replacing a 100-year-old stormwater pipe? You bet. But while the cost of maintaining these assets is significant, the cost of letting them fail would be far greater.
Big numbers, real benefits
This year, it will cost the council $5.5 billion in operating costs to run the services all Aucklanders rely on, on top of a $3.6 billion investment in infrastructure and assets. Around 40 per cent of our total revenue to help pay for this will come from rates.
Numbers that large can feel abstract, but behind them are hundreds of projects that will benefit communities across Tāmaki Makaurau every day. New and revamped libraries and community hubs, for example. Upgraded playgrounds, flood-prevention works, new bus routes and programmes to protect native wildlife.
On top of all this, New Zealand’s largest ever infrastructure project, the City Rail Link, will open this year. Although the tunnels run beneath the city centre, the benefits extend much further. By making it easier for people to move around Auckland, it will reduce pressure on our roads, connect more people with jobs and education and support a stronger regional economy.
Together, these are the kinds of services and major projects that an average $85 weekly rates contribution helps make possible.
Cutting costs, protecting services
When we prepared this year’s budget, increased financial pressures on top of the council's $235 million a year operating cost for the CRL meant a rates increase of around 15 per cent would be required if we had simply passed those costs on to ratepayers.
We knew that was unacceptable.
Instead, through careful financial management, including identifying $106 million in savings while protecting the services Aucklanders rely on, we were able to bring that down to 7.9 per cent. We know this is still significant, and I would encourage anyone who is concerned about being able to meet this cost to get in touch with the council about support options.
The message I want to send our ratepayers across Auckland this week is this: we are committed to making your contributions work as hard possible. Aside from the $214 million we’re investing in stormwater infrastructure this year, no ratepayer money will be going down the drain.
Finally, I want to say thank you.
We know rates are a significant cost for households, and the benefits are not always obvious, or exciting. But they are the oil that keeps the city’s engine running. They help keep our beaches swimmable, parks open, libraries stocked, streets safer and communities connected. They help ensure Tāmaki Makaurau is a city that doesn't just function well today, but is a place we, and future generations, can be proud to call home.