Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

Did you know homeowners in Tauranga pay a higher proportion of rates compared with the commercial sector than any other city in New Zealand?

Eighty-three per cent of Tauranga's rates are collected from residential homes and just 17 per cent from commercial properties.

In Hamilton 66 per cent of rates are collected from homes versus 34 per cent from commercial properties. And this is despite Hamilton not having a 190 hectares port.

Other cities charge commercial ratepayers between 1.6 to 3.5 times more than the residential rate. In Tauranga, apart from an economic development targeted rate, commercial ratepayers pay the same as residential.

Homeowners pay more of the rates burden in this city than any other in the county. When the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce comes in to council and asks for a rates increase to support CBD projects, the burden falls not on the commercial sector to pay for it but homeowners in the suburbs.

By bringing the commercial rate into line with what other cities charge we can reduce the burden on homeowners. But is that fair? During the last couple of weeks I've questioned the fairness of lower-value homeowners paying a higher percentage of their property's value in rates than higher-value homeowners. A shift to a flat rate could reduce rates for more than 70 per cent of you. But do you want that?

As a community with huge infrastructure expenses due to growth we need to grapple with these questions. Council has the power to implement these changes, which is why I'll be presenting a notice-of-motion seeking a public rates review before the 2018-2028 budget. Next week I'll share changes Government and regional council can make to reduce city rates.