Editorial: You want some Rates Control?

OPINION: The people of the Waikato are going to face some interesting choices next October.

When the local government elections roll around, they will have the usual assortment of incumbents and wannabes to choose from, as well as a raft of candidates from the enticingly-named Rates Control group.

Rates Control was a ticket formed before the last election that won the numbers to run the elected wing of our regional council, Environment Waikato. Stung by a proposed 19 per cent rates increase in 2007, voters reacted as this paper predicted – slinging the old-school candidates out. Six Rates Control members came in, and on a 12-seat council, with ticket member Peter Buckley winning the chairmanship, they effectively ran the show.

Now Rates Control are intending to expand. Hamilton City councillor Roger Hennebry, one of the brains behind the Rates Control concept and whose wife Jane was elected to EW, is setting up his own ticket to run in the city. Another EW councillor, Tony Armstrong, is forming a Rates Control team to run for Waikato District Council.

What is appealing about Rates Control, as we all struggle to escape the grip of a recession, is the main goal their name so aptly subscribes to – fiscal control to limit rates increases.

But has Rates Control succeeded at EW? This year, EW's rates increase was 5.6 per cent, a massive improvement from 19 per cent, but still one of the biggest council rises in the region.

It is fair to say, however, the Rates Control grinches did influence their colleagues. Some of the independent councillors publicly decried the spending cap and showed how out of touch with reality they were. With hundreds of extra Waikato people on the dole over the past year, and thousands more fearing for their jobs, rates control needed to be every council's priority, literally.

However, let's be very clear about what we think about the overall Rates Control impact on EW. The thought of that group of councillors leading Hamilton City Council, for instance, is frightening. And we choose our words very carefully.

This is group that has helped force minor rates relief on EW. But it has come without a demonstrable strategy, little common sense or even team unity within the group of six. More than two years into their term, some of the six still struggle with process, let alone having the vision or smarts to comprehend or solve the myriad environmental issues the council faces.

But in the current climate, don't rule out Rates Control in either Hamilton or Waikato.

Hamilton's rates increase this year was 4.31 per cent. Hardly a drop in the bucket when many people's wages stayed still or went backwards in real terms. A ticket calling for nil, or rate of inflation, increases will automatically gain a level of support.

The key for Mr Hennebry, second in the race for the Hamilton mayoralty last time around, will be getting credible candidates next to him. An intriguing year lies ahead.

- © Fairfax NZ News