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Hats off to the Christchurch City Council.

Which is telling the Government today that its idea of forcing a cap on council rates increases is “unrealistic and unworkable”.

Which is a polite way of saying “rates caps are a daft idea, so just drop it right now”.

And that’s what I think too. I’ve always thought it’s a daft idea to force local councils around the country to increase rates by no more than 2 to 4 percent each year. It sounds brilliant, but it’s never going to work.

The Christchurch council says even at the upper range of a 4 percent cap, it would be forced to cut costs by up to $120 million a year.

Which confirms to me that the Government either has no idea or no interest in the financial realities local councils are dealing with.

Christchurch city council says rates caps would force cuts to essential services, lead to a decay in assets, delay investment in critical infrastructure, and reduce the council’s ability to repay debt.

Not only that. It says they would drive up fees and charges. Which the Government isn’t being totally upfront about.

Because, just before Christmas, a Cabinet paper was quietly published which shows we’re only being told part of the story.

In the paper, the local government minister says the rates caps are intended to “incentivise greater use of user charges, which have declined in recent years”.

Which is what the Christchurch city council is warning us about today.If councils are forced to limit annual rates increases to somewhere between 2 and 4 percent, we’ll just end up paying more in other ways. How do you feel about higher parking fees? Higher dump fees. Paying more to use your council pool. Higher consent charges. Life won’t be cheaper, it will be more expensive.

I’ve always known that this idea isn’t actually going to deliver us any benefits.

This cabinet paper and the people who actually know a thing or two about how councils work - Christchurch city council staff and councillors - are proof.

No matter how much you might think your local council needs to rein-in the spending, this idea of rates caps won’t make one bit of difference.

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