A Napier city business owner says it’s “outrageous” that the council is proposing to charge CBD business owners a targeted rate to pay for closed-circuit television (CCTV).

The Music Machine owner on Hastings St, Richie Jackman, said the council needed to go to the source of the problem. “It’s the ugliness of the streets that’s the crux of the problem. The tramps and vagrants are giving the young and old hell. Why would they want to come to town to put up with that?”

Napier City Council is proposing that CBD business owners pay a targeted rate of $563 per annum to cover the $240,000 in labour costs of running the nighttime monitoring service, which is currently funded from parking income.

If the rate were shared among all Napier rateable homes and businesses, it would amount to $8.11 each.

A council spokesperson said the nighttime CCTV monitoring aimed to enhance crime prevention efforts within the central city, offering direct benefits to both local businesses and residents.

Jackman said the city streets were not an appealing place to be and that the money for the CCTV would be better spent cleaning up the streets.

The council spokesperson said homelessness was a nationwide issue under review at all levels, from the government to local services. They said the council recognised the challenges and was working in collaboration with partner organisations, including the police, Whatever It Takes Trust (WITT) and Kāinga Ora.

Mayor Richard McGrath said the council included CCTV in its Annual Plan recently so the community could share their views on their priorities.

“CCTV was an important tool to make Napier’s central city safe, and people feel at ease while they’re in town,”McGrath said. “How the service is paid for is an essential part of the decision, because it needs to be considered in a way that makes it sustainable, and means it doesn’t add unnecessary pressure to ratepayers”

He said everyone wanted a safe city and it was a collective decision on how that was achieved.

Another business owner on Tennyson Street, Theresa Cabot, who has owned Degas Women’s Clothing and Fashion Boutique for 10 years said it was the council’s responsibility to keep its citizens safe. “It’s not up to business owners. It’s up to the council to protect its citizens. It’s appalling that they are asking us to pay for it,” Cabot said.

But not all business owners were against the proposal.

Trattoria Alla Toscana restaurant owner Enzo Saber said it was a good thing. “Cameras are safety, and people will know they can walk around the city during the evening when it’s dark and be safe. It is very good,” Saber said.

He said they have had problems with homeless people but there was nothing they could do about it “because it’s a problem all over the world”. He said more lighting on the city streets would also help to bring people back into the city after dark.

However, Napier City Business general manager Pip Thompson said they strongly opposed the proposal.

She wrote in her submission that CCCTV night monitoring was a “public good” … “Cameras support police, the community and benefit the city’s residents, visitors, workers, and businesses. It is therefore inappropriate to categorise CCTV night-time monitoring as a service that primarily benefits businesses.”

The council spokesperson said the CCTV trial had shown three key benefits.

“The first is early detection and reporting of suspicious behaviour. Direct communication between monitoring staff and police has proven effective,” they said. “One example was the identification of a vehicle patrolling the CBD with its lights off, which led to the arrest of the offender and the recovery of a stolen vehicle.”

The second was improved protection of CBD assets with quick communication with Fire and Emergency New Zealand when fires were lit in town, helping prevent more damage.

The third was improved police intelligence. “Active monitoring has enabled staff to assist police in apprehending offenders, helping to proactively prevent future incidents within the central city,” the spokesperson said.

McGrath said the council was looking forward to reviewing the feedback in the Annual Plan submissions and coming together to discuss the best way forward.

The council will consider all feedback, and submitters will have the opportunity to present their views in person on May 27 and 28.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.