2018 National Conference

Ratepayers & Residents' conference held in Nelson, New Zealand on 10/11 November 2018

Stuff : 30th of October 2018: Ratepayer, resident groups across New Zealand to set up national organisation

Radio NZ 1st of October 2018 : NZ Ratepayers Group gets influx of registrations ( listen here ) ( read here )

Contact John Walker ( Nelson Ratepayers ) Mobile : 0274 432525 E-mail:john@jwauctions.co.nz

It's never too late to submit your ideas to be considered, please send them us here at : ratepayersandresidents@gmail.com

There has been a growing level of interest in the establishment of a National Ratepayer organisation with a charter and a mandate to represent the interests of the ratepaying community at every decision-making level. By ratepaying community we mean those who own houses and pay rates, and those who live in houses and pay rent that includes rates. We do not mean property developers, real estate firms, lawyers, money lenders, politicians or anyone else whose primary line of business is to exploit the ratepaying community.

Ratepayers NZ is currently in the process of setting up a co-ordinated ratepayer voice in Aotearoa.

There is a taxpayers union that has come into existence to hold the taxers to account. They have begun to raise a voice against the excesses of some councils, having realised that taxes such as GST and income tax are only a part of the story, and for many, especially the elderly, a small and diminishing part of the story.

The conference was held in Nelson over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of November 2018.

The purpose of this conference was to establish a national ratepayer organisation which will represent the interests of ratepayers in negotiations with central government and the various statutory and other bodies that make decisions that affect ratepayers. At present there are at least three bodies that make decisions that affect ratepayers and they do this without any input from ratepayers themselves. Proposals are afoot to enable councils to raise additional revenues by way of new fees and taxes, and ratepayers are having no say in these discussions at all. There is an urgent need to counterbalance the pressure from vested interests and the bureaucracy, who are always looking for new ways to lay hands on and spend your money.

Invitations were were sent out to as many Ratepayers and Residents as we had contact details for.

The objective is to form a body that takes a rational balanced view but which ensures that the voice of this country’s ratepayers is heard and heeded by decision makers and policy makers at all levels.

The meeting was held over two days with excellent talks given by some guest speakers including Jarrod Coburn , and groups ( such as the Taxpayers Union ) with particular interests or expertise were encouraged to bring recommendations to the conference.

Please tell as many people as you can about this initiative. The National Ratepayer Body needs to have enough members to make central government listen and take heed.

Click here to see the conference schedule and some Key Messages were discussed during the forum

Click here to see some of the interviews and videos of talks by guest speakers.