Silly season is upon us – that time every three years when a new gaggle of fools and liars tries to convince voters they can move mountains by their will alone. 

And because voters are basically gullible, chances are a good few who either don’t know how local government works, or do but are willing to tell porkies to get in, will get themselves elected. 

And then…. Well, not much – except disappointment and disenchantment for those who voted for them. 

Which is a major reason why so many folk no longer bother to vote at all. And why local governance is so poorly served in general.

Don’t know what I mean? Then let’s take the number one promissory note many candidates give out to get your tick: rates reductions. 

Frankly, anyone promising to reduce rates in any meaningful way is in one of the two categories mentioned above. Because rates are never going to come down. 

There’s a plethora of reasons for that: rising costs including maintenance perhaps the biggest, coupled with the fact the average council already spends around three-quarters of its yearly budget on “essential core services”: roads, and storm- waste- and water supply. 

You can’t cut fat off an already-lean carcass. Cut it to the bone and you get potholes, cracked pavements, missed rubbish pickups, broken pipes, unkempt parks, rampant graffiti… far more than usual, I mean. 

Yet deferring maintenance has been the go-to method conservative councils have adopted for the last 50 years or more, and today’s problems are directly caused by such policies. It’s not current councils who are the cause of the big rates rises we’re all now facing; it’s the ones of the past who sat and did squat (and then had the temerity to crow about “keeping rates in check”) when all they were doing was dodging the bullets that are hitting home now. 

Add climate change to that – more and greater extreme weather events – and our aging infrastructure is at the point of collapse and needs urgent renewal, let alone upgrading it to meet future demands. 

So to reduce rates in any of these areas you will need a magic wand. Those don’t exist. 

Then there are the so-called “vanity projects” people who CARE – sorry, I mean ACT – think we can do without. Playgrounds, parks, libraries, CBD streets that have a bit of snap. You know, those things that give a place, and the people who live in and visit it, something to be cheerful about. 

The bits that make a community livable, in short. And attract newcomers to dwell there too. 

Aren’t those essential? Absolutely. No-one wants to live in an industrial wasteland. So which bits are you going to cut to save a few pennies? 

See, it’s nonsense. 

Oh, and did anyone mention environmental protection?

Sure, I agree there are some projects a mayor or a council decides would be “nice to have” and goes out of its way to spend ratepayer dollars on. A velodrome for Napier (as mooted not long ago) would be one example. 

But it’s rare for any such project to get the go-ahead unless there’s considerable community backing for it. And if there is, then isn’t it incumbent on a council to provide it, if they can? For who else might?

No, not central government. They have consistently burdened councils with more and more costs by pushing as many formerly centralized matters on to local government to take care of as they can. Yet now head the drive for “core” services only – regardless of community aspirations – and are pushing to “cap” increases, which is simply madness: how do they expect councils to deal with the $100+ billion infrastructure deficit if they can’t charge for it? Privatisation? Yeah, right.

No, not businesses, nor philanthropists. The first are already stretched in providing what sponsorships they can, the second pretty much nonexistent in NZ… and while they like headline attention, it’s not for propping up local government. 

Charities? Don’t make me laugh. They’re in basic survival mode. 

And if you don’t care because you’re lucky enough to have a bit of money to move somewhere else when this place goes to the dogs, think again. Every council in the country is facing the same pressures – though some are still trying to pretend they aren’t. And will be hit even harder when they must face up to it.

Bottom line: if you want your area to be maintained at least as well as it is now, and be at least as livable, then rates rises are locked in. Probably forever. 

Yes, rates are a growing burden on all property owners, particularly low-income urban dwellers who increasingly get whacked to give farmers relief, but without comprehensive reform of the way rates are levied – plus some radical collectivism of debt, such as Three Waters promised – the mistakes of the past will continue to loom in an avalanche of cost now starting to descend.

So, Bruce’s number one rule on how to vote this election: do NOT tick anyone who claims to be able to wave a magic wand at rates. They’re either a fool or a liar.