Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger: Rates rises and paying for growth | Q+A 2024
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Christchurch's mayor Phil Mauger campaigned to cap rates rises to 3% a year. Two years in the job, as the city's residents face near double-digit rates rises, he says it's worth it to keep council services going.
Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.
We're all subsiding subdivisions - cost more to provide service than the councils makes in rates - leads to unsustainable cities that can't afford basic services
You know in subdivisions they have to put the infrastructure in themselves to council standards then to sign the services over to the council and pay infrastructure contributions ae?
@@stuee1365you do know that the council maintains and pays for any repairs required. You do know the distance over subdivisions is far greater than high density housing therefore it’s more expensive to provide services. Absolutely current rate payers are subsidising sub divisions.
@handidles they do infact pay for the maintenance...from the new rates they get from the properties. Look higher density housing is great if you want to live in the pod. But the reality is most people don't want to live like that. And no current rate payers are not.
@@stuee1365sorry bud but you're wrong on this. Personal preference aside, dense neighborhoods are far cheaper to maintain than sprawling ones.
@@stuee1365 they don't get enough in rates from the low density housing to pay for the long term maintenance of their infrastructure. Higher density housing is subsidizing the low density housing.
Yeah, paying close to Auckland prices. Whenever an opportunity strikes people will rip others off.
That guy is utterly incompetent; either stupid or uninformed. Hardly anyone I know goes shopping into the city. It’s just for tourists and homeless people.
The problems are a lot of donor are subdivision developers and deifications affect the handful of bunch of developers 4:30 the council will need to please them before the broader interest of the city settlers.
"Plenty of land!" Conveniently leaving out that's only if you own a property developer company with tens of millions in reserve, or have family wealth of close to a million. One guy I know was going to buy his property for 500K two years ago, he tried again this year now his finances were better off and it's gone up to 900k!
That is not sustainable, and yes Phil, that's priced out most kiwi's who can only save up half a million in their working lives. It's not like people are left over with MORE money since the 80's.
I am ashamed to say I voted for this guy on his promises.
Stupid stadium and stupid sprawl. Why are we copying dumb American town planning?
Sorry but there is no American city which has its stadium in the middle of downtown without like 28 blocks of parking.
The stadium, even if you think wasn't the right way for the council to spend the $420 mil (250 mil was from central and was contingent on a stadium rebuild), the stadium is gonna be a good facility.
@@Me-ui1zy So you guys have your stadiums on the outside of cities, rather than right in the middle of them? isn't that better foresight and planning than what we're up to here?
I mean, we're forced to work around our lack of capacity by using busses and having dedicated trains that run to our arenas.
I think it shows good forward planning, we built a lot of new roads and motorways without much capacity (i.e. 2 lanes everywhere except on motorways)
And we also had completely empty land when we first built our motorway and transport networks in the first place, the city grew from like 200,000 to 1.4 million in about 50 years. so almost the entire motorway network wasn't constricted by any existing buildings, and yet we still built small (4 lanes) despite the apparent requirement for more capacity today.
we've had to spend alot of money expanding our network to 6 lanes, and it still gets backed up.
in many places their's so much congestion it's actually faster to take a bus!
and alot of the wider roads are being converted into bus lanes and rapid transport options because of the requirement for more capacity. we're building 3 - 4 story townhouses in previously sparse suburbs, and what were previously peoples back and front yards have been sub divided and intensified to become more houses. - granted its good for the housing crisis. but at the same time because we don't have the transport or road infrastructure in place to support the new population, congestion is a very very big problem in Auckland.
Also 100% the Bromley stench would've been sorted if it was in a richer area.
They fixed the roads in merivale less than a year after the quakes. There's STILL exposed sewer grates you have to avoid in the middle of Maces road from the quakes over 12 years later. Take not, Merivale got repaired within a year, over a DECADE later, pages road is still jacked up while some roads in Woolston aren't drivable if you want to keep your suspension. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him
Im not a huge fan of Phil, but tbf, the roads in Merivale were largely fine after the earthquakes. The problems on Pages Rd arent about council ineptness, its about the fact that the land is terrible, they have repaired those roads so many times but after a year they are back to being shit.
The Page Rd bridge was supposed to happen this year, but the new nat govt cancelled funding of the project (I believe because it had too much cycling and PT infra included, which is obviously stupid) A lot of the bullshit is out of the councils hands tho.
To long term fix the roads around Bexley takes a lot of capital (Due to the complexity of the specifics), that the council rely on the central government for.
@@Me-ui1zy They STILL haven't reburied the drains on maces road. They're sticking up out of the road half a foot or more, and that's just up the road from the shitponds.
Keep note, it's been nearly a decade and a half now and that bridge still isn't done either, but this is work that is definitely in the council's scope. It's their job, they just made it very, very clear that poorer parts of the city aren't worth their time or effort. As you said, Merivale was barely even hit yet they got repaired first. Even now they're doing cycle ways rather than actual required infrastructure. I don't blame them for the stadium costs, but I for sure blame them for all doing their personal projects rather than keep our city running like it's their job to do.
This is just our water infrastructure all over again
Just like all the other council staff ..full of hollow promises ..the rates are out of control...try being on a fixed income... NZ is getting too expensive to live ..😩😩😩
Mauger has proved to be a pudding. He can't reign in council spending and inefficiency.
Yes people moved out because of the earthquakes but nobody wants intensification Christchurch sections have got smaller and smaller lots of new shoeboxes imagine a family living in them, a lot of them are now BNB. Would never move back to Christchurch we live in the Waimack hell no we aren’t paying for the stadium, costs have spiralled out of control, city pool is another cluster taken years and should we talk about the cluster of the cathedral.
Rates are another reason not to move back to Christchurch, also now charging for water, 2 billion debt, all councils have wasted millions, cycle ways everywhere, they talk about shutting libraries or pools but council staff grows, cycle ways grow, nobody is accountable for projects costs blow outs. It’s time councils live within their means instead of vanity projects. How much money is wasted on the climate change con.
The stadium is currently one of the very few examples of a govt project without cost blowouts lmao
Chch only charges for water if your household uses more than 2000 litres a day lmao, I dont know anyone that has paid anything lol. (Also isn't Waimak about to charging for water too?)
The cycleways that exist are not wasted money either, 11% of commuters use them. Its a far better way to spend money than on the 400 mil for the Woodend bypass lmao
@@Me-ui1zythe stadium costs have blown out massively. It would’ve only cost 150m to fix the last one…
Are the councils spending money on infrastructure or is it nice to haves
Just look at Wellington now that’s a council that’s out of control
Its funny you say this when the convention centre in Wellington was approved when a now government member (Andy Foster) was the mayor, and National whole heartedly supported the construction of the stadium in Christchurch 2 years ago (And the National aligned councillors were the most eager to spend even more than we ended up doing). Luxon still hasn't said the Chch stadium was a bad decision (Its easy to say a nice to have is bad when its an unpopular disaster, but not so easy to say when its extremely popular)
I take your point, but the govt hasn't been consistent at all on this point sadly.
So what he's saying is water will go to private (overseas) ownership
Hence the reason 3 waters was implemented by the Labour government. All thought it was just for Maori, about Maori. But no it was protection on our national resources from privatisation. Now you will all understand on what te tiriti preserves.
All politicians promise. 😅
I heard the National Party
had about $600 million
in the South Canterbury Finance before it went into
liquidation one week after
the second earthquake 🤔
Don't forget Ngai Tahu and
Tainui started the rebuild 🤔
Stopping people from subdivision on 10 acre properties is silly.
Good on you Phil, thanks for the work you do to prepare chch for the future
If you didn’t do what you promised, then have some dignity and step down sir
Yall voted for this bloke 😂😂😂
I wasn't stupid enough, but a lot of people were dumb enough thinking the guy could pull off miracles. He had no clue when he came in and the voters didn't have much of an idea either when they were voting people in like Chu who directly went against city interests. They haven't even learned the lesson of the quakes that zoning the city were it is, is only begging for disaster when the alpine fault goes. Meanwhile they ignore it, the testing which showed building there is stupid and wonder why people who remember almost being crushed aren't moving back in droves. STILL hasn't figured out people don't want to invest their money into a known risk. But screw it, zone it for skyscrapers and layer on more people than the aquifers can handle.
The mayor’s hands are tied. At the end of the day, they only represent another vote
Hopeless
Christchurch is not only more affordable but it has a better climate, Auckland gets 1,200 mls of rain per annum as does Wellington! Wellington has the horrible wind. Hamilton gets the same rainfall as Auckland. Christchurch has only 600 mls of Rain p.a.. Oamaru gets 550 mils as does Timaru.
If you had a Brain Brian you would move to Christchurch!
Well thank the Earthquake for that. Christchurch gets it's Shiny New Rebuild from the Government. When I was in Christchurch around the 1990s, it was pretty boring as Hell. Damn Flat as a Pancake. Not much else rocking.
You can go on about this City has better, that City has worse. I've been to most Cities in NZ and EVERY city has it's Major Issues to deal with and other causes. Just because you don't like the Weather, doesn't make it a Horrible City. Some can handle and like Rain and Wind, some don't. Some like rolling hills, and compactness, some like Urban sprawl. Some left Christchurch like my Friend, and some stay for earthquakes.
Why do you think some don't want to live down there? Because it's too damn Cold in Winter and better up North. Obviously YOU don't have a Brain because you haven't thought about these things when making this comment.
Dont come crying when Christchurch suffer from drought season.
Who wants to live on reclaimed swamp land! Chch was built on an aluvial swamp bed
that's why there's a brain drain to the elevated neighbouring districts. But to be fair if Canterbury had the 1000mm of rain Nelson had over 3 days most of it would be under water.
Youd be surprised how much of nz has been built on reclaimed swamp Land
Over staffed simple as that
Christchurch has nothing on sprawls compared to Auckland and Wellington. Seems they just want to keep it small town syndrome
Wellington is just a little town, not a city.
And what "wonders" has that done for those cities? Perhaps we SHOULDN'T make the same mistake everyone complains on in those places....
😂🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What a tyrant 😂🤣😂🤣🤣🤣
Cycle ways are not a good investment theres no way to make money out of them.
You'd have to be crazy to buy a home on the western side of Christchurch.
The traffic is abominable the further west you go.
If you buy in the east, you've got no traffic, basically!
yes but much of east is a shit hole and full of crime
@@Chris.Davies But at least the roads are straight and level not wonky like eastern roads.
@@jermunitz3020 I don't know why you're celebrating part of the city being neglected. A rising tide doesn't leave anyone beached.
Wouldn’t buy on the east…
Weak..
Resign Phil! Take a cut in pay! Give the Mayor a living wage! If you can't afford it, put it back (Maggie Thatcher). Cut down a little (Monty Python).
Lotsa sign language !!!
Intensification is disgusting. The cbd is mostly 1-2-bedroom stacknpack boxes. The suburbs are being raped by developers building ultra quick stacknpack 1-2 bedroom boxes. CCC stadium and the sinking metro will be white elephants accelerating rates. Nah mate, resign.
Small minded thinking. Global studies over multiple decades have proven that an effective public transport system must have stops no more than 800m walking distance. The only way that works is intensification. Effective public transport is a bare minimum for any city, if you can call Christchurch a city.
What a tool
So many fkn unnecessary, underused bike lanes everywhere. Sacrifice a two lane road into a one lane road + a bike lane to accommodate all five people who'll use it in the span of an hour. Unbelievable.
They did the same in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington too, now their CBD's are empty, baron slums!
You obviously don’t travel at the start and end of the work day and see the number of bikes on the cycleways. If you are a road user you should be thanking the bikers on the cycleways for making your travel less congested and easier.
I am ashamed to say I voted for this guy on his promises.
@@bighoose auckland being barren* is nothing to do with the amount of cycle lanes. It's because everything is so expensive and there's no good events happening anymore. Not many people have much to spend
@@Bobby99838 I do the school run and they're nearly abandoned. I could count the amount of students going down them of ricc road on two hands. And they're the ones who use it the MOST. I'm not particularly for or against them, but they were a MASSIVE waste of money in most of the city. Unless you're in the eastern suburbs or the richest, no one cycles. You either have to have the need like in the poorer suburbs, or have so little need it's a novelty. The rest don't bother. It's too cold, too many shitty drivers for every other place you don't have cycle ways and you have the rep of the douchebag cyclists who peel out in front of people without warning and go psycho when they're almost hit. Again though, that's only one massive cost they've lumped ratepayers with to the point it's now not uncommon to hear someone sold their house because they can't afford the rates.
Meanwhile my tap still stinks like a chemical pool
God he hasnt aged well, Such a fidgety, awkward mayor
Useless as a 2 dollar watch.