“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 last  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.

Now, with the congestion charges mooted, residents have had a guts 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,” says Mags Palmer, owner of popular Mt Fish and Chip shop, Mags.

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

There’s concern that council will not listen to locals, pointing to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown who last week said community consultation over Auckland congestion charges is “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,” says Palmer.

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

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.

Mark Lucero, owner of Mount Pizza Library, says the plans are 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, says it's “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 is bad, he says.

“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.”

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

“It’s completely ridiculous.”

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

Former Tauranga councillor Murray Guy agrees.

“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 says the congestion charges – which the council has named Smart Trip – is 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 says.

Asked about timing given pressure on people’s budgets, Sellwood says doing nothing will 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 will 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.

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 per cent are strongly opposed to the concept, and just 5.4 per cent in favour.

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

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

Business association chair and restaurant owner Ash Gee says 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 says 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.”

-Annemarie Quill/Stuff.