Chch accused of coveting rates

Press, 16 July 1986, Page 9

Chch accused of coveting rates

Christchurch City favours amalgamation to soak up what it sees as surplus rating capacity in neighbouring authorities, says an Australian authority on mergers.

Dr Michael Jones told a public meeting last evening that Christchurch City wanted to bolster its central business district by seeking more rates from a greater area. A more sensible option might be a separate authority that covered that business district and its unique needs, he said.

Christchurch was a peculiarly centralised city, which meant that many people travelled into the centre to work. Their money spent in the area was their contribution towards the central district, said Dr Jones. New Zealand was 10 or 20 years behind the rest of the world in adhering to the “bigger is better” philosophy, he said.

It was much easier for staff to "loaf around” in a bigger bureaucracy. There was probably a good deal of “featherbedding” already in the Christchurch City Council because of its size, let

alone what there could be if it was enlarged, said Dr Jones. The answer, now recognised throughout the world, was to decentralise, to go back to the communities of interest, he said.

The Labour Government was pushing ahead with amalgamations in an

arrogant manner and without any research. The policy was “lousy socialism,” and the poll provisions for the expression of opposition "worthy of the Philippines” in their undemocratic approach, said Dr Jones.

He could see no economic or social advantages in amalgamation.