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Rates off the rails
There is a rail crossing somewhere along Woodcocks Road. I don’t know if it is used anymore. One thing I do know is that it will not be part of the much-delayed and extremely expensive Auckland City Rail Link.
The first hole was dug in June, 2016 amidst much controversy and conflicting cost-benefit evaluations – and the city centre has been a mess, financially and aesthetically in the seven years since.
There is no doubt that the CRL will improve life to some degree for city commuters, cutting the rail trip, for example, from Panmure to Karangahape Road in half.
What it will also do is make life more expensive for Warkworth and district ratepayers.
Auckland Council is telling us to expect 7.8 per cent rises next year. For context, they told us to expect 5.8 per cent this year, not the 20 per cent many of us in Rodney have been slam-dunked with.
Why another big rise? The council says it is to pay for the cost blowout associated with the project, originally slated at $3.4 billion, revised to $4.4 billion in 2019, and now sitting at $5.5 billion for when it opens next year, if it does. Anyone care to wager that figure won’t go north? Will 7.8 per cent become 10 per cent?
The question is: why should Warkworth ratepayers get stung? How many of us use a train to commute to work each day? Very few I would guess.
A targeted rate for those in the city catchment areas that will benefit from this project would be a much fairer way of paying for such fiscal recklessness.
Peter Eley, Sandspit
