Rates, taxes, and the priceless value of public life
Saturday, 1 November 2025
Alex Matthews is a Wellington businessperson in the digital production, IT, and games sector, a lover of public amenities, and an avid futurist passionate about Aotearoa’s role on the global stage.
OPINION: Your rates and tax dollars may feel like a burden a lot of the time, or a necessary evil that’s been imposed on you. However, there are moments – commonly found in Wellington – when you feel yourself beaming inside, positively chuffed at the value of the public services on offer for you, for free.
I hope you experience these moments frequently; and if you don’t, then this article is for you, to offer another perspective.
These little moments of public pride are essential codifiers in our relationship with local and central government – like small trust-forming handshakes between ourselves and our political apparatus. You can see it happen at our fantastic public libraries, as kids discover new literary works, board games, and use free computers – all while their parents host a community gathering in one of the meeting rooms, or sign up for a te reo Māori event.
It can also be seen on our sports fields, swimming pools, coastlines, and on Cuba St during one of our numerous cultural festivals.
Most Wellingtonians can walk to a playground not far from their home. Libraries host a huge range of activities for children and teenagers – for example, Baby Rock and Rhyme, bilingual story times, coding and robotics groups, Dungeons & Dragons – and don’t forget the reopening of the city library in March next year.
Then there are markets, street and ethnic festivals, and concerts. There’s Te Papa, art galleries, and exhibitions. The Botanic Gardens, Town Belt, and waterfront provide a range of scenic and varied walks. Gold Card members can take advantage of free ferry trips to Matiu/Somes Island or Days Bay – or a train trip to Plimmerton, or a bus to Eastbourne during off-peak hours.
It can be overwhelming sometimes just to go over how many free public amenities, facilities, events, and experiences are actually on offer to the Wellington public. It’s important for us now, more than ever, to connect with these offerings and take full advantage of them.
Following the disastrous impacts of Covid – with things taking years to slowly recover, and the city’s prospects for future generations sometimes feeling dire – I feel we are on our way to getting back to the brilliant, blazing Wellington the wider country knows and loves.
By getting out with our friends and families and participating in our publicly funded initiatives, we not only claim the value we’ve put in as citizens; we also show others how much we collectively value having these benefits. It has a compounding effect on the integrity of the social contract as we realise how important it is to live in a city that values quality public services.
I have to confess that I experienced this phenomenon most notably at two major junctions in my life as a Wellingtonian – as a student socialising in the 2000s (sipping a cold drink in the Botanic Gardens during one of the amazing Gardens Magic concert series that we should all go to every summer), and as a new parent right now, whereby I frequently find myself remarking on the wonderful quality of our playgrounds and swimming pools (although not free, they’re very affordable).
Even in the midst of historically difficult times economically – even while there’s plenty of legitimate things to complain about on a local, national, and global scale – we still need to acknowledge the good stuff and remind ourselves that we don’t know how good we’ve got it until it’s gone.
If we do that, our frustrations with the current state of things not matching our expectations are at least within context, and our aspirations toward the Kiwi dream of an equal, egalitarian, socially minded society are qualified through that lens.
An extremely practical way to vote with our feet is to be aware of the publicly funded initiatives taking place around us, and proactively seek out participation in them.
An economic side effect of us turning off the TV and going out for a walk through the Town Belt, taking a free language class, or attending a community, cultural, or sporting event is that we also end up giving the cafés, restaurants, and bars the custom they need to remain a staple of our urban experience. Even when that feels outside the purview of financial sensibility, it’s still lovely to walk down Cuba St on a beautiful day and see it teeming with people from all walks of life – all drinking in the vibrant atmosphere together.
We’re in for some stunning days ahead – the ones that can’t be beaten – with some predictions showing a summer that may have higher-than-average temperatures. Why wait for the holidays when we can start planning now how best to take advantage of our hard-spent rates and tax dollars?
As tempting as it is to enjoy home entertainment and hide in the comfort of our domestic domains, I think this summer may have a special quality that beckons us outward. Like any summer – and like the proverbial recent past – it will include the odd ferocious storm that gives us cause for concern. But let’s staunch through them as we always do, share moments of sunshine, and embrace a summer in which we fully utilise our public spaces, taking full advantage of the city’s amenities in a spirit of celebratory solidarity.