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Monday, August 23, 2010

Water will cost you more under Banks and C&R


Fears city water may cost hundreds of dollars more
Auckland families should be concerned about big water bill increases under Super City mayoral contender John Banks and Citizens & Ratepayers, says the leader of the rival City Vision ticket, Richard Northey.

"John Banks and C&R's policy would increase the cost of water services for about 127,000 households in Manukau, Waitakere and the North Shore by up to several hundred dollars a year," the former Labour MP said.

Mr Northey was responding to C&R president John Slater, who said the right-leaning ticket supported user-pays for wastewater and hints of a similar policy by Mr Banks.

C&R is refusing to tell voters if their water bills will go up or down if it wins control of the Super City.


It is disgusting that C&R are being secret about water costs and with Banks planning more user pays water it's time Aucklanders sat up and noted what a Banks win will actually create...

On Tuesday, Mr Banks dropped hints that he was looking at a more extensive user-pays system for the region, a move likely to be supported by the right-wing Citizens & Ratepayers ticket, which set up Metrowater in 1997.

...if Banks wins you will pay more for water, it's as simple as that.

13 Comments:

At 23/8/10 2:26 pm, Anonymous sdm said...

Under Brown my rates are likely to go up.

 
At 23/8/10 2:55 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

and the way C&R are hiding the water cost rise is just disgusting isn't it.

 
At 23/8/10 4:20 pm, Anonymous sdm said...

Whats disgusting is how little policy we actually know. My concern, as a ratepayer is I think that candidates of the 'left' are playing toward renters, on the basis that they dont have to directly fund the promises.

 
At 23/8/10 4:57 pm, Blogger Whaleoil said...

So Bomber just to make this clear, are you saying that a family with 5 daughters in North Shore should pay exactly the same for water rates as a single person household in Manukau.

Coz I think that is what you are saying.

Nothing could be fairer than user pays, especially on precious resources like water. Surely you would support the biggest users of water paying accordingly rather than a uniform water rate applying equally.

 
At 23/8/10 5:02 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

what's more disgusting is an elitist. bossman view that says renters are some how inferior even though they are paying in their rent any rates cost.

 
At 23/8/10 5:03 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

Do you suddenly care about water so that the Dairy industry can have more of it?

 
At 23/8/10 5:09 pm, Anonymous sdm said...

Two things

1) I never said they were inferior. I simply said they dont foot the bill

2) I resigned from my job

 
At 23/8/10 5:28 pm, Blogger Whaleoil said...

Water is water Bomber, if you use more of it you should pay for it, same goes for waste water too while you are at it.

User/polluter pays

I care about water because I have used it all my life, hunting, swimming, kayaking, surely it is in everyones interest to have clean water.

But I still maintain that if you are frugal with water you should be rewarded. Uniform charges actually penalises frugal users.

 
At 23/8/10 6:10 pm, Blogger Michael Wood said...

Water is the most basic of rights, and is also relatively inelastic - everyone needs access to water and wastewater. User pays simply means that modest income people get hit with higher charges.

Let's also tackle this garbage about Banks and C&R delivering lower rates. They certainly have for the very wealthy, but they have done so by increasing the uniform annual charge, a flat tax, with the result that rates for low and middle value properties have sky-rocketed.

 
At 23/8/10 9:40 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well Banks did say he couldnt wear his true policies on his sleeve, because if people knew what they were they wouldnt vote for him.

Banks is an arrogant shit who thinks a lousy few hundred thousand in the current Auckland City will make him mayor. Trouble for him is he has about a million outside Auckland city who think him and his Crusty and Rusty mates are just a pack of bus lane rorting visionless old twats- no way he will win- outside Auckland city but inside the "super" city region, he is despised.

 
At 23/8/10 9:56 pm, Anonymous Grant said...

Haha, water? ..oh please that's just the beginning. How about things like dog pound fees, parking meters, council leases on land, rubbish fees, fees to remove tagging in your street, "private" footpath maintenance, street lighting, and of course the army of parking officers that will descend on even the leafy suburban streets of Auckland in search of more funds for the great machine.. The cost of living in Auckland will skyrocket under the auspices of the SUPERcity .. Why can't the Auckland public see that ???

 
At 24/8/10 6:00 am, Blogger Bomber said...

while it warms my heart that you love water so much cam - the question is will Banks and C&R increase water costs - and the answer is yes isn't it?

 
At 24/8/10 9:28 am, Anonymous sdm said...

But you are happy for rates to go up, because, well, others pay that?

 

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