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Wellsford residents fiercely condemned a Rodney Local Board proposal to introduce an annual targeted rate to fix Rodney’s transport woes, at a meeting at the town’s community centre this month.
The board proposal would see the introduction of an annual targeted rate of $150 per dwelling to fund road sealing, footpath upgrades, park-and-rides in Warkworth and an improved bus service for Kumeu.
About 50 people showed up to the meeting, held at the Wellsford District Community Centre on March 13, to air their views on the targeted rate and a series of other board proposals.
As Council officers tried to explain the rate, the disgruntled audience loudly voiced their dissatisfaction and underscored their disapproval in a series of straw polls.
Among the complaints:
• Millions of dollars in rates are leaving Rodney and disappearing into central Auckland. Why not use this money to fix Rodney’s roads rather than a targeted rate?
• Mayor Phil Goff promised to cap general rates at 2.5 per cent, but the commitment is meaningless, since Council is simply substituting targeted rates instead.
• North Rodney ratepayers financed the Araparera Forest venture which was supposed to raise money to fix roads, but all the money disappeared.
• The Rodney Local Board has picked the wrong roads to fix.
• Rodney residents will pay more than their fair share for transport improvements if a proposed regional fuel tax goes ahead, since they travel longer distances than city dwellers. They are further hit by tolls to use the Johnstone Hill tunnels.
Other residents said the current state of local roads was shocking and they had no faith the Council had the capacity to fix them, even if a targeted rate was applied.
One woman said her youngest daughter had written her car off because of the jagged rocks littering local roads, and she was now reluctant to visit her parents.
In responding to complaints, board representatives stressed that although Rodney residents would end up paying an additional $150 for the targeted rate, they would no longer be required to pay the current interim transport levy of $114 due to end this year.
While funds raised by the transport levy could be applied anywhere in Auckland, a Rodney targeted rate could only fund transport projects in Rodney.
They added that targeted rate funding would only be applied to roads that had not already been earmarked for upgrading by Auckland Transport. While it could appear that roads of lower priority were set to benefit from a targeted rate, this was because higher priority roads were already scheduled for upgrades from regular rates.
In defending the targeted rate, Rodney Local Board deputy chair Phelan Pirrie told the meeting that Council was already billions of dollars short to fund its current list of transport priorities. Without additional funding, nothing would happen to alleviate Rodney’s transport needs.
He said the targeted rate was an effort to ensure money raised in Rodney was spent in Rodney and it would also give the Local Board greater control of precisely how that money was spent.
Afterwards, Mr Pirrie reiterated that more than 50 per cent of submissions on the Board’s draft plan last year had urged the Board to present a proposal for a targeted rate.
But, he said he was not surprised by the lack of support for the rate in Wellsford and speculated the Araparera forest fiasco may have coloured local views.
He said there was more support for a targeted rate further south in Rodney so the measure might yet succeed, though the Local Board would need to get a strong indication of that support.
“We would have to see a very clear majority of submissions in favour of a targeted rate. In my view, only 50 per cent support would be pretty marginal,” he said.
Mr Pirrie also suggested that it was possible that a targeted rate might not be applied in Wellsford, but could be applied in other Rodney subdivisions if there was support in those areas.
This would mean Wellsford would not benefit from the rate, but would be able to judge if it had worked for other subdivisions and opt in at a later stage if it wished to do so.
The Wellsford meeting was part of a month-long consultation process on the Board’s draft budget.
Although the targeted rate attracted a storm of protest, proposals to fund a multisport building at Warkworth Showgrounds and improvements to Warkworth town centre were greeted with enthusiasm.
