The Council engaged a research company to randomly select a panel of 640 residents who are statistically representative of the community.
Just over 400 of them responded to a survey last month which outlined the rates options and their implications based on the Draft Annual Plan. The survey gives a margin of error of five percent.
The results show that most people support the 12 percent rates option (49 percent) with the next favoured option being a 15 percent increase (29 percent). The seven percent rates increase was favoured by 13 percent while a further nine percent supported another option which ranged from a 0 to five percent increase or which matched the Consumer Price Index or was non-specific.
The City Council’s Head of Community Planning, Andrew Boyle, says the results show that people clearly link the perceived value of services they receive to the rates they pay.
For example people’s reasons for favouring 12 percent were mostly to do with keeping Council services at their current level, preserving their own qualify of life and maintaining the city’s growth.
"These are people who wouldn't normally express their views but are sufficiently committed to the city to be part of our research," Andrew says.
He acknowledged that there was a link between the household incomes of respondents and the options they favoured. People in higher income households were more likely to support a 15 percent rates rise than these in lower income households.
However the variation was relatively slight – 78 percent of people who have a household income of $20,000 or less favoured a rate increase of 12 percent or more while 87 percent of people who enjoyed a $70,000 plus income also supported the same increase.
Other reasons for the 12 percent or more increase were;
- It’s realistic
- As long as it’s for basic services
- As long as it’s for this year only and overspending is stopped
- So Council doesn’t have so much to borrow
- To reduce debt and the burden on future generations.
Reasons given by people who favoured the seven percent option were;
- Because rate increases should match inflation
- Rates are too high already
- Don’t want to pay for the Council’s past overspending
- Council should look at other ways of raising funds.
The email survey also included a question about how the Council could work smarter to save money. The two most common themes were;
- Be more efficient/do things once properly/better co-ordination of work/reduce staff and staff costs/better management/use consultants less
- Stick to the essentials and don’t do the 'nice to haves' like the recreational lake, the Victoria Esplanade, the Square, city sculptures and Te Manawa and listen to people when they say they don't want these sort of projects.
Andrew Boyle says the responses will now be sent to City Councillors to complement the 445 submissions they have received to the Draft Annual Plan. Those submissions have been evaluated and show that support for the rate rise options was more evenly divided. The 12 percent or more options were favoured by 196 submitters and a seven percent or similar rise by 182 submitters.
Five days of Draft Annual Plan hearings are planned from May 12-16. After that Councillors have set aside three meetings to debate and finalise the Annual Plan which is likely to be approved on June 18.