Dumb Things
Capping rates and controlling power.
Welcome, strangers, to the show
I’m the one who should be lying low
Saw the knives out, turned my back
Heard the train coming, stayed out on the track
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of a dream
I lost my shirt, I pawned my rings
I’ve done all the dumb things
Songwriter: Paul Maurice Kelly.
Capping rates.
The government announced yesterday that they will be capping the amount that councils can increase rates by each year - sounds good, doesn’t it?
At a Press Conference yesterday, Prime Minister Luxon said ratepayers, “are sick of seeing their rates spent on nice-to-haves rather than must-haves, building fancy public toilets rather than fixing the pipes, or installing endless speed bumps rather than maintaining the roads.”
He implored councils to “stop doing dumb stuff” I’m not sure what he meant. I imagine it was community events and such, not reneging on a ferry deal that costs the taxpayer hundreds of millions - cos that would be really dumb.
Green Party local government spokeswoman Celia Wade-Brown, a former Mayor of Wellington, said capping rates would do “nothing to fix the decades of significant underinvestment in local infrastructure. It’s also completely at odds with the Government’s so-called ‘localism approach’.”
Labour’s local government spokesperson Tangi Utikere said, “The money for essential services, like water and waste, libraries, parks and footpaths, has to come from somewhere. Councils will be left with no other option but to hike fees or start charging for services that have always been free. Or they’ll have to cut services altogether – either way, communities lose.”
Even Auckland’s cost-cutting Mayor Wayne Brown said it wouldn’t work:
“How else does the government think we’re going to pay for what Auckland needs and for things like the City Rail Link, which were the result of decisions made by previous governments and councils?
Councils are faced with making decisions that involve significant investment and should not be restricted by government telling us what we can and can’t do.”
The change supposedly takes effect in 2029, but Local Government Minister Simon Watts has already warned that if councils continue to exceed such a cap, they may intervene from 2027. They’ve set an ambitious, some might say undemocratic, schedule for proceedings.
Consultation opens immediately and closes in February, meaning it runs for the same period that parliament and much of the country are on holiday. The coalition intends to pass it next year because, politically, who in their right mind would go into an election saying they plan to remove a cap on rates?
The never-ending increase.
As you’re no doubt painfully aware, each year our rates rise faster than inflation, putting pressure on household incomes and making it rather difficult for the government to claim inflation is under control.
We pay more money, but we never seem to get more for it, and now the government is going to take action because they’re pretty keen on intervening in things beyond their control, more so it seems than the things they should be managing themselves.
You know, like providing lunches to schools, and look how well capping costs below what they would’ve been otherwise has worked there…
Some more of David Seymour’s diabolical school dinners, and this time they were rancid, mouldy meals, not simply unappealing. The meals were “putrid”, and parents were asked to watch their children for “nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, fever, and headaches.”
Sometimes spending less makes you worse off, and it’s not hard to imagine that a council cutting costs may end up producing similar symptoms among residents. A bout of Campylobacteriosis, anyone? I hear it can be very slimming, just ask the good people of Havelock North.
The thing with council spending is that we don’t necessarily see it all; it’s not all parades and festivals. Somewhere like Wellington has to fix its pipes, so it will be the extras that go, the things that turn our towns into communities.
You’d think Luxon’s government might have some appreciation of the deficit in infrastructure spending that needs to be resolved, as it’s down to his government that individual councils have to deal with such matters. I posted:
Capping rates brought to you by the same people who created racial hysteria over Three Waters, pushing costs back to councils.
The government is introducing financing for water infrastructure outside this cap, but there was no mention of who would repay those loans or who would be responsible for ongoing maintenance. I’m guessing Nicola Willis hasn’t budgeted for it, and it will sit on local councils' balance sheets to be repaid by ratepayers. In any case, Luxon said during his announcement that he expected councils to keep fixing the pipes.
Moira commented, “So cross… now nothing will get fixed, pools and libraries will close or have shorter hours. This bunch of clowns overreaches in their control of democratically elected local government! All to pay for Water done Expensively. Those racists and media that canned 3 Waters .. this debacle is on you!”
Pam said, “Not enough people seemed to have worked that out…the racially influenced PR, aided by media, got those anti-Māori worked up about ‘Māori wanting to own rivers’ and too many stupid people fell for it, including one local putting himself forward for mayor who consistently refused to answer my question where he stood on 3 Waters.”
Trevor wrote, “Price control has never fixed any financial system ever. It invariably leads to a future disaster. The Muldoon era should have taught everyone that. It almost bankrupted this country and opened the doorway to the mess we now have.
Vote this government out now. Absolutely no sensible ideas have come from them. Stupidity knows no limits.”
Stupidity has no limits, eh? Well, I like a challenge, so if we’re capping rates, why not go the full Muldoon and cap other things too? This government is quite used to implementing policies that have proven to be failures in the past, so how about a few more?
What about other costs?
Council rates are not the only thing that has seen price rises above the rate of inflation; for example, Health Insurance has increased by 20%. Should the government do something about that? I wrote:
If we’re going to have a rates cap, then why not a food cap, a rental cap, or an electricity cap?
Of course, our government would never do that, and I don’t mean because it’s economic madness - like when has that ever stopped them? Those companies have shareholders; they make political donations. There’s no way our government will cap any of those things, but maybe they should.
Judith suggested a cap on politicians' pay, with their 10% increase well outside the council’s capped rate. Jacinda froze salaries when it was a bad look for MPs to be getting pay rises, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before this lot reconsider their entitlements.
Taking full control.
For a party of small government, the National Party is doing a lot of empire-building. They campaigned on localisation, but they’re centralising power in their own hands. At the same time, they have given extraordinary powers to their own ministers, removing safeguards and taking full authority.
I wrote:
This government really wants to control power.
No more regional councils, tying the hands of city councils while giving themselves unchecked powers to approve things.
Debbie commented, “Luxon didn’t understand what devolution was”. Sharing power doesn’t really go with his whole “I am the CEO” vibe.
Charlie wrote, “The greatest irony of all was the lobby groups shouting from the high cab tractors all about how Jacinda and Chippie were taking away their water assets, and now this bunch of muppets are taking away their entire fuckin council, and it’s crickets and tumbleweeds.”
Brett said, “They also want us to believe it’s a good thing by framing it as a way to keep rates low, but they are also partly responsible for the rate increases.”
So what happens when a council has spent too much? Will National step in and appoint one of their own to ensure austerity measures and make the cuts that should not be made, or will they step in more directly and take complete control of spending?
We enjoy things like libraries, and we have to pay for them; it seems unfair for the price to keep rising, but then the same is true of everything else, from beef prices to insurance policies to the power bill.
We’ve seen the austerity cuts at central government, the degradation of services. Do we really want the same with the local services in our communities?
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Ngā mihi,
Nick.
To end today, here’s Paul Kelly; he's done all the dumb things but is reputed to make excellent gravy, and it won’t be long before you’re hearing that one.
When the end goal is privatisation, look at the 'Why?"
Regional Councils own or manage huge assets, like Foundations, Ports, and Land. Now, how does Central Government get to sell these assets to their friends? The new Boards are cash strapped with rate caps, so they sell assets... nefarious plan.. always "follow the money" with Luxo and friends.
Any move that delights the TaxPayer’s Union must be really bad for most citizens. The goal must be a future privatisation when councils ‘fall over’ with impossible budgets. By the by, has there EVER been a less inspiring Minister than Simon What’s?