The hilarity of the local council rates-cap you stupid sleepy hobbits
Look.
Comrades.
I love you, but the ease with which you are manipulated by the Right honestly strangers me.
Take the Rates Council cap that the Taxpayer’s Union have tricked you with…
RNZ-Reid Research poll: 75% of voters support a rates cap
…let’s just take a tiny second here shall we?
Remember 3 Waters?
Now, why do you think Labour embarked upon 3 Waters?
They embarked upon 3 Waters for 2 reasons.
1 – The courts told them they had to ensure Māori interests in water were recognised.
2 – Labour knew there was an enormous cost coming to ratepayers if they didn’t do it.
The Political right through their astroturf organisations convinced you it was all about da Maaaaaarrrres stealing da water and you all believed that it was an existential race war.
So 3 Waters was killed and now the rates are going up, just as TDB predicted and warned you about.
The Astroturf Right Wing tell you Councils are full of socialist spending your money, this isn’t true, here is the majority of the cost:
Why water drives rates increases
- Ageing infrastructure: Many councils face urgent upgrades to ageing pipes, treatment plants, and stormwater systems.
- New water standards: Stricter drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater regulations (via Taumata Arowai, the new water regulator) mean councils must spend more to comply.
- Three Waters repeal: The repeal of the previous Government’s Three Waters reforms (which would have shifted costs to large regional water entities) has left the burden squarely back on councils.
- Scale of costs: For many councils, water projects are now the single biggest line item in their Long-Term Plans (LTPs). For example:
- Wellington City has signalled that over half of its proposed rates increases are tied to water fixes.
- Tauranga and Hamilton also cite water as the dominant cost driver.
- Even smaller councils (e.g. Wairarapa, Southland) report that water upgrades are their largest unfunded liability.
On top of the water costs are these reasons:
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Rising interest costs on council debt.
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Inflation in construction/materials.
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Climate resilience projects (flood protection, coastal erosion).
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Population growth and demand for new infrastructure.
You are being tricked by Political Right Astrotruf organisations into believing Local Council are fecklessly spending you cash, but the reality is you allowed rednecks to trick you into believing da Maaaaaarees is stealing da water and the population increases on top of the reality of climate change are driving up costs.
The ease with which your bigotry is used to manipulate you for the Right is truly staggering Kiwi.
Truly staggering
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Remember when Maori cite their Whakapapa (Genealogy) their Mountains & rivers are included even before mentioning their human whanau and why Maori have significant interest to water and mother nature in Aotearoa NZ.
Martyn, around 2000 government required councils to rate for depreciation. Is that still a thing? If so, where is the money to ameliorate these water costs.
This article effectively exposes the manipulation of public opinion regarding rising council rates, highlighting how misinformation about the Three Waters reform has unfairly shifted blame. The author’s frustration is palpable but makes a compelling case for holding the political right accountable for exploiting public fear.
I was honestly shocked by the result of that poll. Are New Zealander’s that ignorant? I would love to see the correlation between rates cap preference and knowledge about what councils do.
Soooo stupid makes me wanna vomit. Nghia Mahuta was given an impossible task considering the racism 3Waters unleashed. But why couldn’t Labour have rammed it through like the right wing seems to be able to ram ANYTHING through, any terrible thing like all the shit that has been proven to be actually detrimental, tobacco, speed limits, pseudo ephedrine and whatever other evil they endorse and promote
Mahuta was abandoned by Labour who say they are behind Maori but show their true colors when the going gets tough.I had no time for Mahuta but I felt sorry for her in regard to her treatment she deserved more
Could never see the point of changing who owned and looked after the water infra-structure. Just a rort for consultants and bureaucrats reorganizing themselves and putting new names on the buildings and trucks. Whatever is done it’s the same engineers organizing the water supply.
The way to save the punters money is for central govt to use low cost central govt finance for the infrastructure.
In our local election there is a group called rates control which is in FACT the ACT party under cover .Reading between the lines their objective is to cut all social programs to achieve that goal .These people need to remember they are elected to serve the community who elect them not the masters who control central government who have clearly forgotten what community is .
Dont vote rates control or any one who says they will cap rates because we all know thats how we have arrived at this point in time .Decades of kicking the can down the road have now risen up to bite us on the arse big time .
Be careful who and what you vote for in council elections. If you want to live in a “gulag” with rubbish up to your ears that’s what you will get with the likes of ACT. Personally I want to live in a pleasant city with a clean environment I know times are tough but I voted for the moderate environmentalists who say they will look after our city not fill it with concrete and not collect rubbish etc for the sake of saving a dollar