He promised 2.5% rates rises. Maximum. Now he says it won’t happen. 2.5% will be the minimum.
Goff prefers to hold rates rises to 2.5 per cent, but faces having no new revenue sources to meet a huge funding hole for transport projects.
He says an agreement with the Government on funding transport requires him to put every option on the table, including using rates.
At last year’s local body elections, Goff promised to keep rate rises to an average of 2.5 per cent or less over three years. He achieved 2.5 per cent in his first budget this year.
Faced with massive population growth, the council being right up against its debt ceiling and a joint council-Government $5.9 billion funding hole in transport over the next decade, Goff is under huge financial constraints heading into a new 10-year budget.
Like his predecessor Len Brown, Goff has been seeking new funding sources to put “more skin in the game”, including a regional petrol tax and tolls.
The National Government has ruled out a regional petrol tax and work on tolls or a form of congestion charging is years away. Labour and the Greens have promised to give the council the power to raise a regional petrol tax. A 10 cents a litre tax has been talked about, bringing in about $100 million a year.
None of this is new. He knew about the huge funding hole going into the election.
Of course he lied. He’s done that all his career.
But this is a fairly big one. He got elected on a ticket of solving this problem for 2.5% or less.
And he can’t do it.
So I think it’s pretty obvious he should resign and let someone else have a go.