CR JAMI-LEE ROSS
Manukau City Councillor For Howick

Media Release
30 April 2007

Councillor Supports Manukau Referendum Call

Howick Councillor Jami-Lee Ross has welcomed the call from mayoral candidate Dick Quax to hold an annual referendum on important issues in Manukau City.

Mr Ross has long supported the use of referenda in local decision making to allow Manukau residents to have a greater say in Council affairs.

"The Council needs to ensure that residents and ratepayers in Manukau City are given a meaningful opportunity to have their say on issues affecting their city.

"Too often this Council has adopted a 'decide first, consult last' approach which doesn't always result in the best decisions being made."

In June last year Mr Ross pushed for the Council to hold a referendum on the contentious change in rating system from land value to annual value. "The change to annual value represented a fundamental shift in the way that the Council taxes the city and had a large redistribution effect on ratepayers.

"I was concerned that no councillors gave the public an opportunity to assess the large policy change before the last local government elections and called for a referendum to be held in conjunction with the 2007 elections." The Council was unwilling to adopt this approach and Mr Ross subsequently voted against the change.

Mr Ross also called for a referendum to be held at the time that the four Auckland Mayors produced a plan for wide ranging regional governance reforms with no consultations with the public of their own Councils. Mr Ross submitted a notice of motion to be debated at a meeting of the Manukau City Council, however the Mayors' plan was abandoned before the meeting took place.

Mr Ross says that Dick Quax's referendum policy will be a welcome change to the council decision making process and one that will result in better decisions being made for Manukau City.

ENDS

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