The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal today announced its latest rate peg, allowing councils to increase the revenue they can collect from ratepayers by a maximum of 2.7 per cent for the 2019-20 financial year.
“…the IPART rating announcements are based on the Local Government Cost Index – much like a CPI for Councils – which is derived from the actual costs increases councils in NSW have experienced in the preceding year, which is a more accurate reflection of events than councils’ advanced estimates.
This is the regimen that the NZ government needs to put in place. It would force councils like the KCDC to live within their means, instead of squandering money on their huge bureaucratic machines, half-baked notions and propaganda instead of doing what the people want.
Wouldn’t that be revolutionary?
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal is a NSW entity to regulate prices for monopolies that exist there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Pricing_and_Regulatory_Tribunal_of_New_South_Wales
NZ is almost totally made up of monopolies, local government being just one.
After reading the source and Wikipedia’s item one simply has to come to the conclusion that Joe average citizen has been systematically asset stripped by our monopolies, all with government approval over the last 20 or 30 years.
For the Tweed council to have rates increases of under 2.5% for the last 5 years and not whinge and moan about the lack of money says heaps for our lot.
I wonder if this or any future government will do what needs to be done to look after the less that well healed.