Mayor Phil Mauger wants another crack at making rates ‘affordable’

Tuesday, 21 January 2025

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger wants to keep his job for another three years and says he will look at every avenue to save money and keep rates affordable.

Exactly what level is affordable, he is not saying. He learnt from the last election not to state a figure after promising, and later failing, to keep rates at under 4%.

“I’ll never use a number again. All that does is come back and bite you.”

Mauger announced on Monday he would be standing again in the October election, joining city councillor Sara Templeton, who is the only other candidate to confirm a tilt at the mayoralty.

Saving money features highly on Mauger’s to do list and he is also open to having another discussion about asset sales.

The council could save money by looking at library and pools hours and not mowing grass as often, he said. He also wanted to look at rubbish collection.

The last thing Mauger wanted to see was rubbish on the streets, but he said there “might be ways to play with it a bit” and “at least have the discussion”.

Mauger said he had wanted the council to look at levels of service as part of last year’s Long Term Plan process, but said he was outvoted.

Cutting about $5m to $6m in operating costs reduced the rates by 1 percentage point.

Residents were saddled with a 9.9% increase in rates this financial year and 8.93% is predicted from July 1.

“I’m not looking at cutting services per se, it is the frequency of doing it. If we had shed-loads of money it would not matter, but at the moment we do not.”

The council was considering spending $60m on upgrading transfer stations and Mauger asked: “Do we really need to do it now?”

“We’ve just got to be very tight.”

The council was also looking at buying land to create more stormwater basins - another project he questioned.

“Do we need that right now when we haven’t got any money?”

But he also pointed out, the land was only going to get more expensive.

“You’re between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

Mauger planned to focus on six key priorities during the campaign, which he said were designed to address the city’s most pressing needs and future challenges.

He wanted to make rates affordable, lead a stable council, deliver essential services well, protect and enhance our environment, future-proof water infrastructure, and complete major infrastructure projects on time.

He has struggled, at times, over the past two years to get enough support for various issues, which he described as “frustrating”.

He used speed restrictions and road humps as an example and said people did not want them, yet the council was still pushing ahead with them.

Another issue he failed to get across the line was asset sales.

The council voted 8-7 in 2023 not to develop a business case to cede control of assets to its investment company Christchurch City Holdings Ltd, which oversees more than $5.8 billion worth of city assets like the airport and Lyttelton Port.

Mauger said the council should never be afraid to look into something and he was open to having a discussion about asset sales.

Mauger, who will be 67 at the October election, said he was standing again because he loved the job.

“I’m so lucky I’ve got people around me in my office that look after me and stop me from using my open mouth policy.”

He said he was so proud of what he has achieved this term and he had a vision for the next three years.

He did not think it was healthy for the city to have a change in mayor. The city was on the rise and he wanted to carry on and get things done.

He would stand again as an independent and is not a member of any political party, but he did help celebrate National’s success at the 2023 election by attending its Christchurch party. However, Mauger said at the time, he would have gone to Labour’s election party too - had he been invited.

During the lead up to the last local body election, Mauger endorsed a number of candidates and even contributed financially toward some of their campaigns.

He would not be doing that this time.

It created a “them and us” situation and Mauger said that was not what he was about.

He lists his key accomplishments as retaining ownership of the city’s three waters infrastructure - which was ultimately a Government decision - and upgrading and relocating the organics processing plant from Bromley to Hornby, which is in the planning stage.

He said he also played a key role in the council’s $85m insurance settlement following the fire at the Bromley Wastewater Treatment Plant and securing Government funding to replace the Pages Rd bridge.

When asked if he could take credit for the bridge, Mauger said: “My bloody oath I can.”

“I’ve got no issue in standing up and saying I helped a lot in getting that over the line.”

Creating a crew dedicated to fixing uneven footpaths was another success he listed.