The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling on Wellington City Council to scrap the Golden Mile for good, after the Council’s own review confirmed the project’s business case has collapsed.

The scheme lurched from a $78 million budget to an estimated $220 million. The Council has voted today to investigate a scaled-back version of the same project with a budget of $20-$40 million.

Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman, James Ross, said:

“Mayor Andrew Little says Wellington needs urban renewal, but banning cars and adding some ornamental shrubbery to the Golden Mile is meaningless if the Council has hollowed out the CBD.”

“Wellington already has the highest commercial rates in the country and the second-highest residential rates. The number of households needing hardship assistance to pay their rates bill has increased by 150 percent in two years. Council is pricing out the people and businesses that give Wellington life, and that’s what’s keeping the Capital down.”

“Spending another $500 per household on salvaging Tory Whanau’s legacy project while businesses shutter and residents leave is a waste of good ratepayer money. If the Council wants urban renewal, it should start by making life in Wellington affordable again.”

Responding to reports criticising Tiaki Wai’s water meter cost estimates, Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman James Ross said:

“Roughly $4,000 per household for water meters is outrageous."

“Tiaki Wai says these were early indicative costs, but they were so clearly excessive they should never have been published. Infrastructure Commission Chair Raveen Jaduram is right to question them and point to better alternatives."

“If Watercare can roll out smart meters across Auckland at a fraction of the cost to households, and a private individual can price a basic meter and installation at under $300, why is Tiaki Wai starting with numbers as high as $4,000 per household?

“These inflated figures raise serious concerns that Tiaki Wai has inherited the same poor cost-control culture as its predecessor. Wellingtonians were promised efficiencies from merged water services, but these numbers suggest the same old waste in a bigger bureaucracy."

The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance says Wellingtonians are being denied the representation they voted for, after Councillor Karl Tiefenbacher was barred from voting on whether to continue the Golden Mile despite being elected on a promise to end the fiasco.

Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson James Ross said:

“Wellingtonians voted for change. Barring councillors such as Karl Tiefenbacher from delivering the mandate they were elected on makes a mockery of local democracy.”

“Conflict of interest rules should protect ratepayers from councillors lining their own pockets, not silence representatives trying to deliver what voters asked for.”

“If councillors cannot vote on the issues they campaigned on, what exactly were Wellingtonians voting for? Ratepayers deserve a system that respects the election result, not one hiding behind process to keep this $2,750-per-household white elephant alive.”

Wellington City Council spent $29,000 of ratepayer money on Climate Festival Pōneke, featuring food workshops, bike rides, and community events, the Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance can reveal through an official information request.

This is the latest example of questionable council climate spending. For instance, the Climate Sustainability Fund has previously funded:

• $90,000 for a Māori lunar calendar
• $21,000 for low-carbon cooking videos
• $69,000 for LGBTQ+ bike workshops
• $20,000 for plant-based cooking events.

Responding to the cost of the festival, Alliance spokesman James Ross said:

“People don’t pay rates so councils can sponsor bike rides, composting lessons, and Easter egg hunts. They pay them for roads, pipes, and playgrounds.”

“Every dollar council spent on this festival came from Wellington ratepayers, yet the Council can’t even tell us the cost of the staff time devoted to organising it.”

“Wellington City Council spending tens of thousands of dollars on festivals isn’t going to save the planet and won’t reduce New Zealand’s emissions by even a gram, as New Zealand has an Emissions Trading Scheme.”

“Council should focus on flood protection, stormwater upgrades, and infrastructure resilience where it can actually make a difference, instead of wasting money on feel-good workshops.”

The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance is welcoming the launch of an investigation into the Wellington library website’s extraordinary cost blowout, just days after the Alliance publicly called for answers.

Spokesman James Ross said the decision to investigate was a win for transparency and for the ratepayers who fund Council spending.

“This website blowout is one tiny part of a wider pattern. Poor financial management has frustrated Wellington ratepayers for years, and capital projects - big or small - always blow the budget.”

“Whether it’s project overruns, procurement failures, or runaway spending, Wellingtonians are tired of footing the bill for repeat mistakes. Council officers wasting ratepayers’ money then burying their heads in the sand needs to end.”

“A review is a start, but it’s pointless if it just ends up collecting dust in some rusty old filing cabinet. The investigation needs to identify exactly what went wrong, who was responsible for approving the spending, and who will be held accountable to make sure it never happens again.”

The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling for a full council inquiry into how a straightforward library website project ended up costing ratepayers nearly $600,000, despite lacking basic functionality.

Alliance spokesman James Ross said:

“Not only did the library’s website cost 117 families’ entire annual rates bills, but you can’t even use it to sign up for the library. To call it a farce would be an understatement.”

“It’s been a week since the true cost was exposed. Beyond expressions of concern, what action have councillors actually taken to make sure this can’t happen again?”

“Wellingtonians are sick of hearing excuses about why projects failed without anyone ever been held accountable. If council think this spending is justified, they should have no problem showing their workings to a full inquiry.”

The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance is backing Wellington Mayor Andrew Little's call that any council amalgamation across the Wellington region must only proceed with the backing of ratepayers through a referendum.

Wellington Ratepayers Alliance spokesperson, James Ross, says;

“Mayor Little was bang-on when he said ‘the bottom line is this: local people should decide the future of their local governments.’”

“Unlike Ministers pushing councils into rushed restructuring, Mayor Little understands both the benefits and the risks that come with amalgamation. The people who pay the bills and live with the consequences deserve the final say.”

“Ten weeks is nowhere near long enough to decide the future shape of local democracy in Wellington. Councils across the region should be putting the question directly to ratepayers well before making decisions that cannot easily be undone.”

“Whether rehashing the bloated Auckland Supercity in the capital is the right answer or not, democracy still matters. Local government should only be reorganised with the consent of the communities it serves, not because Ministers have decided they know best.”

The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance is stunned to learn Tiāki Wai plans to spend $420,000 on an advertising campaign simply to tell people that Tiāki Wai exists.

Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson, James Ross, says;

“Ratepayers don’t need a $420,000 marketing campaign. They need pipes fixed.”

“Tiaki Wai is a monopoly. Wellingtonians cannot choose another provider, so why the flash PR blitz? An agency spending hundreds of thousands promoting itself before it has delivered a single result is completely tone deaf.”

“Tiāki Wai needs to focus on infrastructure, accountability, and cost control instead of trying to sell ratepayers on higher bills. This kind of spending exposes exactly why Wellingtonians are nervous about the new water monopoly being just as bad as the last one.”

“Families are being warned to expect rising water charges, yet somehow there’s still money for advertising, communications staff, branding, and spin. With 84 percent of the current budget still yet to be spent, this campaign must be stopped before another cent is wasted.”

The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance is accusing council officials of being out of touch with struggling households as Wellington City Council celebrates a 5.8 percent rates hike.

This comes off the back of a 47 percent rates hike over just the last three years.

Alliance spokesman James Ross says ratepayers have every right to be frustrated.

“Inflation is 3.1 percent, yet rates are still rising at nearly twice that rate next year. Why do Council seem to be celebrating that as a win?”

”The rich listers responsible for the rates hike might have pay packets large enough to shield them from the cost increase. But that isn’t the case for most Wellingtonians.”

“The fact anyone believes ratepayers should be grateful for a smaller increase than previous years shows spending discipline has collapsed inside Wellington City Hall. Ratepayers aren’t an endless money pit.”