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NoMoreRates.Com - Latest News [Page 2]
Threat to Ratepayers Remains With GST Increase
Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 9:19 am | NoMoreRates.Com
The Prime Minister’s speech today gave pretty clear indications that there will be a rise in GST to 15% – and I was recently advised by Finance Minister Bill English that the government has no plans to remove GST from council rates. More >>
Auditor-General on Beckham fiasco a lesson
Wednesday, 20 January 2010, 3:56 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
The Auditor-Generals report on the $1.8 million loss fiasco by the Auckland Regional Council on the David Beckham game sends some strong signals to those charged with setting up the new Auckland. More >>
New rating system for Auckland threat to ratepayer
Friday, 4 December 2009, 5:26 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
The move to a single rating system under the new Auckland Council poses a major threat to ratepayers. The combination of a change to capital value rating, together with a new valuation role, across the more than 500,000 ratepayers, will involve potentially ... More >>
No Maori seats on Auckland Council
Monday, 24 August 2009, 5:03 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
The decision not to require Maori seats on the new Auckland Council is an equitable one from a ratepayers perspective. Central government provides less than 13% of council funding while councils must find funds locally for 87% of their income. More >>
Rodney Hide needs to widen review of local govt
Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 12:46 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Rodney Hide needs to widen review of local government to find alternatives to rates. Discussion about a possible wealth tax should reflect that we already have a wealth tax in this country – it is called council rates. The council decides how much ... More >>
Cap on council rates welcome
Monday, 20 July 2009, 1:45 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Cap on council rates welcome – but alternatives to rates are also needed. The news that Local Government Minister, Rodney Hide, wants to take steps towards controlling councils rates increases will be welcomed by most ratepayers. And the need for action ... More >>
Hide's council spending investigations lacking
Tuesday, 16 June 2009, 12:09 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Rodney Hide’s council spending investigations missing vital component. The review of Local Government fiscal arrangements proposed by Rodney Hide may lead to improved accountability but do not address the key issue of finding alternatives to rates. ... More >>
Council spending review must address real problem
Tuesday, 9 June 2009, 4:04 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Rates are seen as ‘easy to collect and almost impossible to avoid’. Many ratepayers will support the move by Rodney Hide to take serious steps to control local council expenditure. But there will be considerable debate about the definition of ‘core ... More >>
Mayors should stop scaremongering on Auckland
Monday, 18 May 2009, 4:27 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
With the passage of the first Auckland reorganisation Bill through Parliament its time the scaremongering opponents sat down and put their minds on ensuring that the new governance system will work for the benefit of all citizens – including the ... More >>
Referendum on Auckland SuperCity not the answer
Friday, 24 April 2009, 4:49 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
The idea of a referendum on SuperCity is, at first sight, an appealing proposal to be promoting. Unfortunately it has a major snag – the requirement is for a simple Yes or No answer to a very specific question. What would be the question? At the ... More >>
Council must stop committing to commercial losses
Thursday, 23 April 2009, 4:11 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Auckland City Council must stop committing its ratepayers to funding commercial losses. Once again a city council has used ratepayers funds to underwrite a loss-making commercial event. The $2.5 million loss on promoting My Fair Lady comes on top of Auckland City’s ... More >>
Details of new Auckland a ‘work in progress'
Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 9:21 am | NoMoreRates.Com
The crocodile tears flowing from mayors and city councillors, and the screaming about the end of local democracy, are bit rich when it was the city councils of the Auckland region which has been raising rates unreasonably and refusing to empower the existing ... More >>
Changes to Ak Plan Could Be Better For Ratepayers
Tuesday, 7 April 2009, 5:06 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Changes To Royal Commission’s Auckland Governance Plan Could Be A Better Deal For Ratepayers Ratepayers and residents should breathe a little easier from the Government’s proposal to retain and re-inforce Community Boards as ‘grass roots’ organisations. ... More >>
Ratepayers waiting for relief in Commission Report
Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 9:55 am | NoMoreRates.Com
When the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance hands its report to Government tomorrow ratepayers will have an anxious wait until the report is publicly released to see if there is any relief in sight from the savage council rates increases of the last ... More >>
Government rail funding a good sign for ratepayers
Monday, 16 March 2009, 10:01 am | NoMoreRates.Com
Ratepayers in Auckland and Wellington will welcome the likelihood that the new Government will fund the purchase of new rail stock. The abandonment of the ill-designed regional fuel tax, proposed by the last government, will be a further benefit to cash-strapped ... More >>
Withhold Rates If Stadium Funding Goes Ahead
Friday, 13 February 2009, 10:03 am | NoMoreRates.Com
The ratepayers of Dunedin City are now faced with a double-hit of rates increases to pay the majority share of the cost of building a new stadium to replace the Carisbrook rugby stadium. More >>
Financial crisis to hit council ratepayers
Monday, 2 February 2009, 3:13 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
The news that the Auckland Regional Council’s investment returns are significantly below budget will mean that any shortfall in funding for interest on, and repayment of, loans for infrastructure projects will need to be found from other sources – ... More >>
Remuneration law must be changed
Thursday, 29 January 2009, 12:45 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Remuneration law must be changed and councillors should set their own salaries and be directly accountable to their paymasters - ratepayers and the public generally. More >>
Call For Freeze On Council Pay Increases
Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 5:20 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Remuneration Authority Response To Nomorerates Call For A Freeze On Elected Council Members Pay Increases. More >>
Call for councils to focus on core services
Thursday, 27 November 2008, 4:51 pm | NoMoreRates.Com
Local Government Forum – A call for councils to focus on core services will get mixed reception from residential ratepayers – but raises issues which must be addressed More >>
