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Mayor Wayne Brown says Aucklanders will have to pay higher rates or miss out on major road and public transport improvements if the Government cancels the Regional Fuel Tax (RFT) this year.
Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, announced last week that the Government intends to enact legislation to repeal the Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Act, with the RFT scheme ending on June 30, four years earlier than planned.
A poll commissioned by the Mayor last November found that 44 per cent of Aucklanders want to keep the RFT, 26 percent were in favour of cancelling RFT projects, and 22 percent favoured increasing rates to make up the shortfall in funding.
In a press release, Mayor Brown said while National is making good on their election promise, this will have unintended consequences unless the Government is prepared to foot the bill for upcoming transport projects. He says the cancellation of the RFT will leave a shortfall in transport funding for Auckland of $1.2 billion over the next four years.
When the scheme ends on 1 July, there will be around $350 million of unspent money held in reserve. However, these funds will only be enough to complete the next stage of the Eastern Busway (including the Reeves Road flyover) and fund the purchase of electric rail units for the City Rail Link.
“Council will have no choice but to pause any further work on projects funded by the RFT, including those already contracted, to see how we can fund them in the Long-term Plan,” the Mayor said. He said he is determined to keep rates under control and not pass the cost of those projects on to struggling Auckland households. “I’ve already proposed to cut spending on cycleways by $141.5 million and raised pedestrian crossings by $80 million. I’m quite happy to talk with the government about what else we can cut, but this is a problem that can’t be solved just by making cuts.
“Auckland’s transport system is a mess and it’s going to cost a lot of money to fix. That money must come from somewhere.”
