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Speaker 1: Back this morning though, of the business of gouging for

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Speaker 1: outdoor dining. Numbers are flying all over the place, from

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Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty dollars a square meter to a

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Speaker 1: couple of hundred dollars a square meter, and depending on

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Speaker 1: how you look at the numbers, means they could be paying.

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Speaker 1: It was claimed yesterday on the program about fifty one

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year, which is a fifteen hundred percent increase.

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Speaker 1: So what's going on? This is specifically in Queenstown and

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Speaker 1: the mayors Glenn Lewis, whore Glenn Lewis, who is with us,

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Speaker 1: Glenn morning, Good morning Mike. Now, I don't want to

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Speaker 1: get bogged down in a singular story about how many

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Speaker 1: meters and how many dollars and stuff, But broadly speaking, one,

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Speaker 1: you charge for outdoor dining. Two you're charging more for

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Speaker 1: outdoor dining. Is that true?

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Speaker 2: Yes, Why we've we've never looked we've never increased rates

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Speaker 2: since two thousand and six. We looked at it in

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Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, going from as you say, you won sixty

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Speaker 2: to six hundred dollars a square meter on the Queenstown

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Speaker 2: Late Front. We paused it during COVID it's now twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four, two years past COVID, and we've picked it

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Speaker 2: up in implementing it.

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Speaker 1: Now, where do you get the six hundred from? Is

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Speaker 1: that a number pluck from the year now?

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Speaker 2: Now it's thirty percent of the retail of the rental

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Speaker 2: rate of the Queen's Town CBD.

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Speaker 1: But that's a number platform the yet that's thirty percent,

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Speaker 1: sixty percent, it's just a number that you guys come

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Speaker 1: up with.

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Speaker 2: You think, and that's not what we come up with.

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Speaker 2: It's a standard industry practice. It's the same number that

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Speaker 2: christ Church uses and that's what we've gone with.

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Speaker 1: Ah, that's interesting. So I asked yesterday whether it's variability.

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Speaker 1: They seem to suggest there was. You're suggesting there's a

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Speaker 1: bog standard. This is what councils charge around the country

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Speaker 1: if you want to have tables outdoors.

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Speaker 2: That's the advice we've got.

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Speaker 1: Yes, right, Is it a money grab?

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Speaker 2: No, it's a reflection of the market rates. And look,

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Speaker 2: this is the Queenstown Lakefront, this is the iconic parist

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Speaker 2: spot in the country, hosts thirty percent of the international

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Speaker 2: visitors that using one received. So no, I don't think

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Speaker 2: it is a prosperant and the individual.

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Speaker 1: Is claiming fifty one grand. That once again without going

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Speaker 1: into too much detail, well, that's a back pay and

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Speaker 1: numbers were done wrong. Is that right? Roughly?

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's increased in an increase in area being charged

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So we then come to the cracks of the

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Speaker 1: problem with is it fair and are you killing business

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Speaker 1: at a time when business is struggling.

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Speaker 2: Look, we've had many outdoor dining businesses come to us

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Speaker 2: wanting to increase the area even with the increase in rates,

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Speaker 2: and others that want to take the opportunity to decrease

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Speaker 2: the area just because it helps manage staff easier. So look,

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Speaker 2: I don't think we're killing outdoor dining. I think there's

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Speaker 2: just probably a rare adjustment for some your debt.

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Speaker 1: How much do you own Queenstown?

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Speaker 2: Geez, we're about seven hundred million. After the ten year plan,

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Speaker 2: we come to one point two billion. This is the

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Speaker 2: outcome of a very fast growing region.

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Speaker 1: Geez, one point two billion on a rating base of

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Speaker 1: what does that put you on the edge of credibility?

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Speaker 2: I will grow from thirty six thousand rate payer base

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Speaker 2: to forty two over the ten years. Now, this is

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Speaker 2: what happens when you've got double the visitor load to

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Speaker 2: actual residents. We're having to design and build for twice

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Speaker 2: as many people than what actually lives here.

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Speaker 1: What do you pay for debt servicing each year?

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Speaker 2: Our average weighted annual interest rate is now five point six.

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Speaker 1: But in Doris, what do you pay as a bill?

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Speaker 2: Oh? You should be one hundred million to' say.

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Speaker 1: Just an interest payment?

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Speaker 2: Yep?

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Speaker 1: Wow, what's your rating increase? This year?

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Speaker 2: It was fifteen point six on average.

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Speaker 1: And that's gone down the treat has it of course?

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Speaker 2: You know, just imagine how well that's gone down there,

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Speaker 2: Mi jee.

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Speaker 1: I've got the number yesterday. And the reason the inflation

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Speaker 1: number and the non tradable number was so bad is

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Speaker 1: because guys like you go around charging people fifteen percent

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Speaker 1: more each year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, when you break it down, it's insurance, interest

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Speaker 2: traits and reevaluation and depreciation on assets that we're actually

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Speaker 2: going already.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Although having said all that, you're one of the lucky.

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Speaker 1: I think you're one of the lucky regions in the country.

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Speaker 1: You do have growth, your tourism is back. Things do

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Speaker 1: seem to be bubbling nicely. And there you're one of

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Speaker 1: the better places in that sense.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, look, I'd rather be in my position than

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Speaker 2: many other councils. I have growth, growth, as is the

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Speaker 2: challenge I face. Jeez, that's a that's a tough one

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Speaker 2: for me really, But no, look I realize I'm in

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Speaker 2: a privileged position.

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Speaker 1: You've got any advice for Torri and Wellington.

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Speaker 2: You stay out of the media.

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Speaker 1: Well, this has gone well for you though, Glenn, hasn't it.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, look, Wellington, I think your counselors need to

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Speaker 2: stay out of the media as well and actually work

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Speaker 2: as a team. Frankly, but yeah, I don't want to

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Speaker 2: start training stones.

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Speaker 1: I just air hit down, but you just have hit down,

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Speaker 1: bum up. As the advice world, I'm Glenn appreciate it

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Speaker 1: pretty much. Glynn Lewis, Queenstown mayor. Hopefully that, hopefully they

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Speaker 1: answer some sort of questions.

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