the relativity of rates

The Relativity of Rateslocal government for a connected world

mark rickerby, http://maetl.coretxt.net.nz

Wellington, 2007

● Residential rates for properties are based on their current market value

● 30 years ago you could have bought a house in city suburbs for $80,000-$200,000

● That house may now be worth over $500,00● Rates will have increased to reflect this – but

your usage of infrastructure and local services may not have changed at all!

What is happening?

● The ratio between commercial and residential rates is changing

● Currently, commercial properties pay $4.2 for every $1 paid by residential properties

● That ratio is changing to $2.8 to $1● Less commercial money in the kitty!● Prospect of 50% of residential rates to service

council debts over the next 7 years

Where do rates go?

● Find out!– http://www.wellington.govt.nz/services/rates/search/search.html

How much do we really know?

● Ratepayers are faceless account numbers– What does the Base General Rate go towards?

Open residential data

● The history of every property on every street is listed and mapped...

Homogenized locality

● ... but every property is treated in the same generic way

● The WCC website is a fantastic resource but completely un(der) personalized

● Where does the Base General Rate go again?

Are residents customers?

● The Council has a monopoly – you must pay rates

● Council rates policy is focused on their own strategic objectives

● But what about the strategic objectives of residents?

● Democratically, the Council should be accountable to residents

Investing in locality

● Residents need to have more say in how their general rates are being spent

● Democracy doesn't have to be just about voting every three years

● Residents should be able to see direct returns in their local area

● Potential for 1-4% of the base general rate to be directed towards localized community funds

Decentralizing regional investment

● Residents of individual streets or housing clusters could have a choice in how a portion of their rates gets spent

● Enabling infrastructure upgrades, street plantings, installations, sculptures, suburban libraries

● Collect ideas from residents for community projects they want in their area

● Allow them to filter % of their rates towards these funds

Decentralizing regional investment

● These ideas need the web if they are to work effectively

● Residents could log in to a “MyStreet” account

● Precise visual breakdown of their rates charges

● Tools for directing a part of their annual payment towards community projects of their choice

Community

● This isn't just the cliché of a web community, it's an actual community of neighbourhoods

● Awareness of local issues● Awareness of who is who in a suburb● Civil defence networks

– one day, Wellington is going to need this

● Uses the web in a read-write capacity, not database silos or static information pages

Property development

● Lengthy resource consent process, long list of disputes between property owners

● Window rights! Should property owners have a say in retaining the outlook of their building?

● Public access to development and extension proposals - informs owners of planned development in their location

● Resolve conflicts before they even start

Socially networked urban planning

● Would urban planners, council representatives, property developers, architects, and residents actually be able to communicate and co-operate effectively?

● That's unlikely – but in this case, the means are the ends

● On the web, public processes are much more visible - nothing gets lost in the paperwork

● Increasing awareness through access

MyStreet: digital neighbourhoods

● The Council already has the data and the platform, just not the interface

● Each location has specific concerns beyond the general issues facing all Wellingtonians

● Online spaces provide the possibility for collaboratively solving these concerns

MyStreet: answering questions

● Personalize it!● Who are my neighbours?● What is the state of the infrastructure in my

neighbourhood? ● What planned developments are there in my

neighbourhood?● What projects can I contribute to?

Where to start...

● Bottom-up vs Top-down organization?● Baby steps...● Map ratepayers accounts to personalized

online services● Bubble up data from various information silos● City wide survey of residents opinions on

e-government

Thank you!● http://www.wellington.govt.nz

● http://maetl.coretxt.net.nz/local-govt-for-connected-world

● http://lightboxgallery.net.nz/words/the-relativity-of-rates/