Rates incentive legislation sought for job-creation

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 9

Rates incentive legislation sought for job-creation

Rates-relief empowering legislation may be sought by the Christchurch City Council so that it can help commercial developments that would create a significant number of new jobs.

Such businesses could receive rates remissions and postponements under legislation similar to the Auckland City Council (Rating Relief) Empowering Act, 1980. The Christchurch council’s employment promotion committee yesterday recommended a move — among studies of other possible incentives — that could lure commercial and industrial developments to the city.

Initial establishment costs of a new development could be very high, and rates relief could help during early years. Cr Vicki Buck, the committee’s chairman, said that such relief should not be at the expense of existing businesses.

“There may be a one-off development that provides a lot of new jobs,” she said. “I think we have to be prepared to lean over backwards to help those people.” The deputy general manager (works), Mr H. E. Surtees, said it was important for the council to set criteria for development in-

centives — perhaps including how much a development benefited tourism or commercial growth of the city centre — before particular applications were received. The council has been talking about help that could be given to future developers of the trianglar site between the Salvation Army Citadel and the Christchurch Town Hall, straddling Victoria Street

Other possible incentives, such as the lowering of fees or deferment of other contributions, were mentioned in a report on incentives the council was able to offer businesses. The committee said that remission or reduction of development levies, the waiver or reduction of permit fees and reduced rental on leased properties should be offered as incentives. Councillors said the need for empowering legislation that would allow additional electricity concessions to new developments creating jobs should also be studied. The Municipal Electricity Department could study whether procedures for existing concessons could be simplified. The town-planning committee will be asked to study the possibility of reducing cash-in-lieu of park-

ing contributions for new businesses which created a significant number of new jobs. S.T.E.P.S. The City Council may become a managing agent for the School-leavers Training and Employment Preparation Scheme (S.T.E.P.S.).

The scheme has been criticised since its start last year for raising the hopes of young school-leavers trying to find permanent jobs.

As a managing agent for the scheme, which is available to both the public and private sector, the council would provide training opportunities for a minimum of 50 people for 12-week periods.

Funding for the programme, including salaries of a co-ordinator and supervisors, is provided by the Labour Department. S.T.E.P.S. tries to help persons aged 15 and 16 move from school to working life. Along with vocational guidance and the teaching of job search techniques, life skills training can also be offered.

The target starting date for S.T.E.P.S. supervisors should be April, councillors said, with trainees starting in June.

In Christchurch, the Y.M.C.A. is already a managing agent, and the Pages Road national marae has applied to be one. Cr Buck said that training facilities in the central city, separate from the Civic Offices, were being sought. The initial appointment as a managing agent would be for a year. Mr Gordon Bradley, the council’s senior employment promotion co-ordinator, said the training facilities should be “a family-like, friendly base where the kids can feel at home.” If trainees were responding well to the programme, they could stay in it for more than 12 weeks, moving from one occupational area to another. Cr Buck said that the scheme had to be honest with young people, letting them know there was “not going to be work for everybody in the years to come.” Cr Rex Lester said that a lot of local bodies had turned down the opportunity to participate in S.T.E.P.S. “I think we have got to look at the alternative,” he said. “It is not the ideal, but at the moment it is all we have got “Perhaps we can improve the programme to make it more adaptable.” At the end of January, 1126 school-leavers were registered with the Labour Department, 275 more than at the end of December. Promotion team More employment promotion office staff should be hired to promote actively Labour Department jobcreation schemes in the private sector, councillors said. Mr Bradley said there had been recent signs, in the last two months, of an upturn in private sector employment. Those signs had to be turned into the reality of jobs through personal contacts with potential employers who could be eligible for subsidised training programmes. “When this assistance is provided, employers seem to be prepared to entertain the prospect of taking on additional employees,” he said. During one day recently, 11 new positions were secured in the private sector by two employment promotion officers.

More staff on a promotion team could lead to more long-term and permanent jobs in the private sector, said Mr Bradley. If the council became a S.T.E.P.S. programme managing agent, even more work would be required to seek jobs at the end of training.

Cr Buck said the Labour Department had a high priority for encouraging private sector jobs, “but a very minimal field team. It is not good enough that we sit back and do nothing.” Jobs booklet

The committee said that another 10,000 copies of the council-produced “Working for Jobs” booklet should be printed for $2500. Most of the original 75,000 copies were distributed early in February, and the few remaining copies are being rationed.

There has been a strong demand for more copies. The Labour Department is seeking head office approval to print another 10,000 for its own use locally. The original run, financed from the council’s publicity budget, cost $18,490 to produce and $1644 to distribute.