Auckland mayor Phil Goff proposes $1.10 weekly rate to tackle climate change
Aucklanders face an additional council rate to accelerate action to curb the effects of climate change, under a budget proposed by mayor Phil Goff. The rate, of about $1.10 a week for an average-value home, would raise about $57 million a year to accelerate the introduction of electric ferries and buses, boost bus services, and fund tree-planting in the south and where the forest canopy is meagre. The Climate Action Targeted Rate (CATR) is the main feature of the so-called mayoral proposal which launches debate to set the annual budget. It will be voted in during June 2022. Goff is proposing to keep average general rates rises at the forecast 3.5 per cent level. READ MORE: * Money talks what will Auckland's proposed Budget say next month? * Auckland hotel tax mayor Phil Goff's $28 million newcomer lesson * Auckland Council budget: Ratepayers face 5 per cent one-off rates boost The mayor is hoping the rate revenue can be supplemented by government funding and money from other sources to create $1 billion for climate action in the city over the next decade. The biggest single line is the purchase of up to seven electric commuter ferries and chargers. Diesel ferries currently account for 21 per cent of public transport emissions. Sixty-six low-emission buses would be funded, along with a raft of new routes which will put a further 10 per cent of the population within 500 metres of a frequent bus service. Councillors were unanimous in declaring a climate emergency, we must now walk the talk and take tangible action, Goff said. The climate rate ring-fences the money raised for the specific programme, and is in addition to $15 million a year already provided for out of general rates in the 10-year budget, which began mid-2021. This is Goffs second attempt at bringing in a climate targeted rate, which failed to gain councillor support in the 2021 budget. It comes as a strongly-worded council report said achieving promised emissions reductions would demand urgent action beyond what is funded in the councils 10-year plan. The scale of the challenge is enormous, but so too is the significance of the moment, the report said, looking ahead to the pledge to halve Aucklands emissions by 2030. Other parts of the CATR programme include $23 million a year for walking and cycling projects, and $1.3 million for urban tree-planting, food gardens and tiny forests. The budget may also have to accommodate a $28 million refund of Goffs Accommodation Providers Targeted Rate if the council doesnt appeal a Court of Appeal ruling that the extra rate on hotels was invalid. Goff proposes continuing capital spending at the levels proposed in the 10-year budget. It is also not yet clear how sharing the overall rates burden will be skewed by property revaluations that take effect in July 2022. Analysis for Stuff in May 2021 suggested above average property value rises which occurred in the cheaper suburbs could deliver higher than average rates rises to those in southern Auckland. Goff is opposed to asset sales such as reducing the councils cornerstone shareholding in Auckland International Airport, a topic also expected to surface in the wider budget debate. The two-term mayor will announce his political future in the new year, but is expected to not seek a third term, making this the last of six budgets he has led. Councillors will decide in a meeting on December 8 which budget ideas should go out for public consultation early next year, ahead of the main debate in May and June.