As anyone who’s driven around the city recently can tell you, Porirua is going ahead in leaps and bounds. But leaping and bounding doesn’t come without risk. You can injure yourself if you’re not careful or run out of steam. So it’s critical we don’t take current boom times for granted.
The Wellington region is undergoing a sharp uptick in housing demand, driving up prices, and underpinning demand for new developments. In many cases, only Porirua has the land necessary, so we’re seeing new homes being built by the hundreds. It’s important we manage growth carefully – and we don’t have the luxury of getting it wrong.
Our Council operates within a narrow margin of error. Unlike Wellington City, and to a lesser extent the Hutt, we can’t rely on deep-pocketed commercial and industrial ratepayers to subsidise residential rates revenue. This means our average household rate bills are 7th highest in the country and $122 per annum* more than Wellington City.
This explains why we, as a Council, need to take a rigorous, even unforgiving approach to the stewardship of ratepayer money.
We have very little room for movement. And we certainly don’t enjoy the luxury of spending up large on vanity projects or non-essential activities. We need to take a conservative approach to Council operations and administration.
We can’t afford a culture that leads to unchecked rate increases. We need to make sure we’re as lean as possible – without diminishing the quality of our services or allowing infrastructure to fall behind.
My council colleagues and I are acutely aware of this reality.
March clinics, Wed 9–11am:
4th: Porirua Development Community Info Hub – Cannons Creek Shops
11th: Council, 16 Cobham Court
18th: Porirua Development Community Info Hub
25th: Pukerua Bay RSA
*2019 Ratepayers’ Report
18 Feb 2020
