As we stated in an earlier Grey Power article (Massive Rates Rises), two Waikato Times articles stated that Hamilton City Council rates could rise by as much as 18% for each of the next three years (see 1&2 below). However, the actual figure that Councilors have agreed upon to take to the City is 25.5% next year, followed by a 12.9% increase in year two and 8.7% in year three (see 3 below).
25.5% represents an increase of around $714, given a median rate of $2800. Given the after-tax pension is just less than $500 a week, $714 represents almost one and a half weeks of your total pension. Add to this your Waikato Regional Rates and for many pensioners an annual rate bill of over $5000 is looking increasingly likely. Of course, pensions are usually tied to inflation, but do you expect pensions to increase by 25.5% next year?
Some in council are stating that they need this massive increase to cover ‘rising costs’ and service debt. In Hamilton we have heard this reasoning too many times over the past few decades. We have had a procession of councils who have stated that they need rate increases far in excess of inflation in order to rebalance the books and pay down debt for ‘the last time’. Yet when have pensioners had the same percentage increases? Instead of being able to go to ratepayers again and again, many of the pensioners I know have to cut back or keep working.
After giving a talk on the cost of living and the problem with aggregate inflation measures, I stopped into a supermarket to buy some lamb for dinner. An old lady next to me saw what I had put into my trolley and commented that she did not buy lamb anymore. So, while those who have worked their entire lives as teachers, nurses and many, many other essential workers in our community, now have to cut back on the number of meals they eat each day or whether they turn the electricity on, and work longer hours irrespective of the physical toll, our public officials do not appear to be inflicted with these same burdens. While the average 2022 household income in NZ was approximately $117,000, with a medium income of around $62,000 (see 4 below), pensioners are having to survive on a fraction of that. Most Hamilton councilors are taking in the better part of $90,000, just from their part-time council job. Perhaps it is time they became more aware of the consequences of their decisions? Is it time they looked more carefully at their spending decisions? A great start would be to provide us with more transparency into those spending decisions.
If you are concerned about this and what it will do to your quality of life, please contact Grey Power Hamilton at greypowerhamilton@gmail.com
1 Stephan Ward, Waikato Times, Oct 17th 2023, “City signals 10%-plus rates rises for at least next three years”, https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/a/nz-news/350092373/city-signals-10-plus-rates-rises-least-next-three-years
2 Stephan Ward, Waikato Times, Oct 18th 2023, “City rate rises ‘well over’ 10% suggested”, https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/a/nz-news/350093186/city-rate-rises-well-over-suggested#:~:text=A%20senior%20city%20councillor%20warns,for%20the%20next%20three%20years.
3 Stephan Ward, Waikato Times, Nov 30th 2023, “Massive rates hike of 25.5% now on the cards for Hamilton residents”, https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/nz-news/350121673/massive-rates-hike-255-cards-hamilton-residents#:~:text=Hamilton's%202023%20rate%20rise%20debated&text=Hamilton%20city%20councillors%20have%20voted,of%20rises%20in%20the%20teens
4 Stats NZ, Retrieved Dec 6th 2023, “Household income and housing-cost statistics: Year ended June 2022, https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/household-income-and-housing-cost-statistics-year-ended-june-2022/
I have only just begun taking notice of the Council, rates etc, are they not accountable to us as to how much is in the bank, how much is raked opps sorry taken in each year on rates, what the outgoings are and to whom and why? If we the public and rate payers are not aware of these simple facts, then Council people have free range to spend and make errors with our hard earned cash, no skin off their nose, just put the rates up for more perhaps they didn't research thoroughly what was needed for a project, threw money at it, then realised what ever would not work so they spent more money on the same thing,…
Keep up putting out this information. Most people in Hamilton don't know what is going. HCC aren't listening to the people. Doing things behand the backs of the residents and ratepayers. Lying to everyone saying they have consulted with the community. Most of the ratepayers money goes on consultants and the like, are the staff so incompetent, if so they should be dismissed. Why is the HCC involved in property ownership, they are there to maintain services, ie water , storm water, sewage, rubbish collection and amenities such as libraries not buying property or being developers.
Very Informative and helpful