Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb has expressed his “profound disappointment that council is taking an approach of austerity.”

The Christchurch City Council is proposing to increase rates by an average of 3.5 percent, but Mr Webb says it should be more.

He says the role of government in times of crisis is not belt tightening and knee-jerk alarmism leading to economic and social contraction and decay.

He says the rates base should not be reduced.

“To do so will cause legacy funding issues and further reduces the ability to borrow.”

“The city should use its balance sheet to increase its borrowing to meet immediate funding shortfalls.”

“Rate increases should be retained as planned (option 3: 4.65 percent rates increase) both to meet current needs, and to avoid the issue of the need for a greater and politically unpalatable “catch up” increase in 2021.”

He says the city should bring forward programmes to enhance employment and take advantage of the availability of labour, likely lower construction costs, and to play its part in supporting the economy and ensuring a resilient city for recovery.

“I find it perplexing that we are facing an economic downturn that Treasury has identified as the most significant in 160 years and the council seems to be saying that it should not financially extend itself to ensure it is prepared for a future crisis.”

“ A zero rates rise would see the city go backwards in terms of its ability to meet basic services. Wage growth in the public sector in December 2019 was 3.3%.2.”

“Over the last three years construction costs have increased by approximately on average 3%.3 Therefore the preferred increase of 3.5% in rates would see the city roughly standing still at best, and not addressing the considerable infrastructure deficit in city works that is well recognised.”

“The rates increases are regressive”

Councillor Phil Mauger told Chris Lynch on Newstalk ZB he was surprised by Mr Webb’s submission.

“We’ve already borrowed a lot and the council is getting pretty close to its debt limits.”

He says “we’ve got to trim things out. We’re not out of the woods just yet.”

Mr Mauger says if Covid19 hadn’t come along “we could have got to a zero rates increase.”

He says a lot of submissions he’s read are supportive of a 3.5 percent increase.