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Speaker 1: A rates cap is one of those policies that immediately

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Speaker 1: sounds so appealing. Doesn't it look no further than yesterday's

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Speaker 1: CPI number. It's one of your top three inflation feeders rates.

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Speaker 1: So throw a cap on him, tie their hands behind

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Speaker 1: their backs, rain these guys in get rid of the

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Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars bike rack over here, the multi

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Speaker 1: million dollar disco toilet over there, the coffee machines for

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Speaker 1: staff over there, and practice, though, how do you actually

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Speaker 1: make it work without starving these councils of revenue? They

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Speaker 1: actually need to fix the pipes. I spoke to Ben

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Speaker 1: Bell from Gore yesterday. He said almost ninety percent of

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Speaker 1: their spending goes on basics, pipes and roads. The rest

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Speaker 1: is nice to have, which he described as libraries and

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Speaker 1: the swimming pools. No club sandwiches. At the council meetings

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Speaker 1: in Gore, they are drinking instant coffee. I can report

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Speaker 1: to you this morning. And yet Gore's rate increases have

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Speaker 1: been double digit or close to it for several years.

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Speaker 1: They'll be close to double digits again this year. And

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Speaker 1: despite that, and the voters knew it, the good people

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Speaker 1: of Gore have re elected Bell for a second term

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Speaker 1: quite handsomely. So we say we want lower rates. Of

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Speaker 1: course we do, but the question is what will it

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Speaker 1: cost us? Will capping them actually hurt us a local

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Speaker 1: economy productivity efficiency if you delay or shelf projects. Last

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Speaker 1: week Wayne Brown told me on Herald Now that Auckland

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Speaker 1: could have a zero increase next year. Doesn't that sound amazing?

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Speaker 1: A zero increase next year if it wasn't for the

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Speaker 1: City rail Link, the spending coming online for the city

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Speaker 1: railing because it's opening up, it's a major transport project.

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Speaker 1: It'll in theory benefit Auckland and the country who paid

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Speaker 1: for it. Well, we all did, the jaffers and the taxpayers.

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Speaker 1: If we want lower rates, we could just not run

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Speaker 1: any trains on the tracks. But is that sensible? Don't

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Speaker 1: get me wrong here. I am the first to criticize

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Speaker 1: the big spending bozos who chuck money at dumb stuff.

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Speaker 1: But most council spending isn't that. Most of it is

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Speaker 1: stuff that we need. D Day is looming for the

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Speaker 1: government's plan to cap rates, and it needs to be

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Speaker 1: a measured response. We need spending on pipes and roads

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Speaker 1: to continue, and waste on disco loes somehow flush down

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Speaker 1: the duney. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.

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Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks itt B from five am weekdays,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio