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1. National

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'THEY'LL CHARGE FOR AIR NEXT': ANGER AT TAURANGA'S CONGESTION CHARGE PLAN

Annemarie Quill05:00, Nov 20 2023
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More anger in Tauranga over more new charges
Mags Palmer who owns Mags fish and chip shop in Mt Maunganui is outraged at the
thought of more costs for people, this time a congestion charge.

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Annemarie Quill/Stuff
Mags Palmer who owns Mags fish and chip shop in Mt Maunganui is outraged at the
thought of more costs for people, this time a congestion charge.
Not trying to make things awkward but… stories like this cost time and money
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“Money grabbing,” “we might as well hand over our whole pay cheque”,
“disgusting”.

Comments by locals to Stuff sum up the collective anger of Tauranga in response
to two more ‘user pays’ concepts revealed this week by Council : congestion
charges, and footpath fees for outside tables at cafés and restaurants.

The timing of the two plans has shocked businesses and residents who have
recently been hit by a raft of council projects that have killed business and
brought the city to a halt, making the city known for the worst traffic in
Aotearoa. Years of construction in the city centre and main street has left it a
ghost town, with dead vibes.

Only last month there were discussions to introduce paid parking at Mt
Maunganui, which locals said would kill the summer tourism hotspot.

More from Stuff:
* Wayne Brown calls congestion charge consultation and equity 'bollocks'
* 35kg of cocaine intercepted at Port of Tauranga hidden amongst bananas
* The Wellington house that lost $400,000

Now, with the congestion charges mooted, residents have had a gut full.

“What are they going to do next, charge us for the air we breathe? People have
had enough. It’s time to stand up to the Commissioners,” said Mags Palmer, owner
of popular Mt Fish and Chip shop, Mags.

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Stuff
Tauranga Council is asking for community feedback on a concept for congestion
charging in Tauranga and locals Stuff spoke to are strongly against it.

There’s concern that council will not listen to locals, pointing to Auckland
Mayor Wayne Brown who this week said community consultation over Auckland
congestion charges was “bollocks” and “a waste of time”.

“They don’t care. They don’t listen to our people. The commissioners get huge
salaries, and want to take more of our hard-earned money to build shit we don’t
need – like huge cycle lanes that no one uses. Or a big greenspace instead of a
carpark that we actually need. Guess what – no one’s going to go to the
greenspace because now there’s nowhere to park,” said Palmer.

The non-elected Commissioners are paid $1500 per day, with Chair Anne Tolley at
$1800, with council responsible for paying them. In addition they’re allowed to
claim for travel, meals, accommodation and other expenses.

Annemarie Quill/Stuff
Fish and chip shop owner Mags Palmer is angry about the idea of congestion
charges

Mark Lucero, owner of Mount Pizza Library, said the plans were another “money
grab” by council.

“They should look at their own operations and cut costs instead of taking more
and more of our money. People are already stretched – people are on such tight
budgets they can’t afford to eat out. Many have big mortgage increases – and now
this, which would cost them even just to get to work. And $6 a round trip to go
to the beach – something that’s always been at least free – this is not what New
Zealand stands for.”

Harris Williams, Managing Director at Wisp Marketing on Cameron Road – which has
been plagued all year by non-stop construction, said it was “complete crock”.

“It’s the hypocrisy of it that people are outraged about. The congestion is all
of council’s own making. Every action council has taken in terms of
infrastructure has been so poorly managed and executed, not to mention going
millions over budget. This is all ratepayer money, and now they have the
audacity to say, well, congestion is getting worse, so we are going to charge
you, failing to mention that it was them who caused it.”

The timing was bad, he said.

John Borren/Sun Media
Tauranga City Council Commission, from left, Shadrach Rolleston, Bill Wasley,
Anne Tolley and Stephen Selwood. Tauranga commissioners.

“There’s a cost of living crisis, and they’re piling more financial pressure on
people.

“The city has been poorly managed both fiscally and at management level. Now
they want ratepayers and residents to pay the price for their own incompetency.”

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Under the proposed new charges, Williams roughly calculated this week that it
could cost a person $7000 a year to work full time in the city centre –
depending where they travelled from.

“It’s completely ridiculous.”

Stuff
Managing Director, Wisp Marketing, Harris Williams said the idea was
“ridiculous”

Former Tauranga councillor Murray Guy agreed.

“A deviant and devious strategy to create the congestion and then charge their
victims for the privilege.”

In response to Stuff’s questions, Commissioner Sellwood said the congestion
charges – which the council had named Smart Trip – was at concept stage.

“We’re asking the community for feedback to tell us whether we should look at
this more closely... a change in legislation would be required to enable the
introduction of road pricing,” he said.

Asked about timing given pressure on people’s budgets, Sellwood said doing
nothing would be worse.

“Current levels of congestion will only get worse, with all of the costs that
would involve for individuals and businesses and the resulting impacts on carbon
emissions, sustainability and lifestyle.”

In the plan, pricing would change based on time of day and where people accessed
the road network. A peak charge has been suggested of $2 for light vehicles,
then an additional 15c per kilometre. A heavy vehicle would pay $5 to access the
road, then 38c per kilometre.

It could mean a round trip from Tauranga to Mount Beach could cost $6. A truck
travelling to the Port of Tauranga would cost $15 one way.

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With these congestion prices, council could earn $88 million in net revenue a
year by 2035 and that would increase to $158m by 2048.

In a recent AA survey of 4000 members, 84% were strongly opposed, or opposed to
the concept, and just 5.4% in favour.

Stuff
Ash Gee, owner of popular cocktail bar and restaurant, Miss Gee's, and chair of
Downtown Tauranga business association.

Council consultation over charges for outside tables is also getting little
support from businesses.

Business association chair and restaurant owner Ash Gee said if council chose to
charge a price per table, then hospitality businesses may look to reduce outside
tables, but that would affect “vibrancy” in a summer hotspot.

“Due to the current economic climate, any additional costs will be passed onto
customers.”

Claudia West of Mount Business Association said it disagrees with the
introduction of footpath charges.

“Businesses are already paying extremely high commercial rates for their
location, which we continue to see increased...

”If high user rates were charged to businesses, then it would put them off using
the space. They may have to change how they operate or pass this cost on to the
customer. This would then have a negative impact on visitors coming to the
Mount.”

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