27 Sept - 3 Oct
LOCALLY OWNED SINCE FOREVER
No 870
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
M W Aw He ent ee a alt al k rn h Fe es at s ur e
The last bed tax word
In this, my last column for Lakes Weekly Bulletin as Mayor, I want to address an issue which has been top of mind since I was elected in 2016, and which has only partially been resolved. I raise this because many people have asked me what my biggest regret is in leaving the Mayoralty. Without doubt it is the inability to have secured a visitor levy to pay for infrastructure for the district. To go back to pre-Covid days, we had over $3 million annual visitors to the district which equated to something north of 6 million visitor nights annually. Our ratio of visitors to permanent population was one of the highest in the world. It seemed to me that it was reasonable to expect some contribution from visitors for our roads, water and other infrastructure. Fresh-faced and bushy tailed in 2016, I thought it sensible to approach government for a contribution from GST paid by the district, noting in particular, that per head of population, our district put more into the economy than any other part of New Zealand. A series of very firm “no’s” from both the past and present government led me to seek an alternative solution. That manifested itself in the proposed bed tax. Through then Minister of Transport, Phil Goff, we received central government support, with the condition that we hold a referendum to ensure that the proposal had local support. In excess of 80% voted in favour, so clearly locals wanted it.
The team spearheading an initiative for the community to access books in languages from all over the world. The team includes from left to right back row; Bob Farrell (Menzshed), Jess Payne (Frankton Library), Toni Boatwright (Mitre10 MEGA) and left to right front row; Cath Gilmore (Catalyst Trust), Paul Jackson (10 MEGA), Keiko Okumura (Japanese Family Society), Natasya Zambri (Frankton Library)
Council then worked with government departments to plan how the levy might work and got to the stage of having draft legislation ready to introduce to Parliament in 2020. Then of course came Covid and adding an additional burden to the tourism industry in those circumstances would have clearly been silly, so the idea was shelved. However, with the recovery of tourism, the time will soon be right soon to bring the matter back to the table. Many ask why we don’t favour a general levy on visitors on everything spent in the town. The simple answer to that is that accommodation is virtually the only thing that locals don’t use, and therefore the only real expenditure that doesn’t place an additional burden on locals. So, my strong advice to an incoming Council, is to pick this up and run with it. Interestingly, I know that my counterpart in Auckland has written to central government supporting the proposal and asking that they also be included. I’ll watch this space with interest. As I said, this is my last Lakes Weekly Bulletin column and I thank you for being a reader. I definitely won’t be a ghost from the past in future by putting my nose into Council affairs, but I do hope to play a significant role in the district going forward. I have put my name forward as a trustee of the Central Lakes Trust and I do hope that you’ll give me support in voting for that. Mayor Jim Boult
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