The first question is easy to answer. No. it is not true. The amalgamation proposal before us will increase the costs of governance. Sure it will cost less for one mayor's salary but the overall governance cost will rise. Everybody on the plethora of boards and committees will be paid and costs will rise.
Chief executives salaries are based on their level of responsibility and their workload.
The chief executive of a Hawke's Bay council would get paid a great deal more than any of the current local authority chief executives and their workload would be unsustainable. They would need a deputy and he or she would need assistants. They would all get executive assistants or personal assistants and all would need to be supported by secretarial staff.
The ratepayers of Hawke's Bay, the people who would fund the $20 million to $30 million that amalgamation will cost, will see no savings.
The next question is more complex. I daresay an autocratic structure with one all-powerful mayor and chief executive team, remote from the bulk of the community they are supposedly serving, would appeal to some. It certainly doesn't appeal to me.
That's what they tried in Queensland in 2008 and now an enormously expensive unravelling is under way.
By 2012, the Queensland Minister for Local Government had received 19 proposals for de-amalgamation, five of which were referred to the commissioner.
So far Douglas Shire has de-amalgamated from the Cairns Regional Council and Noosa Shire has de-amalgamated from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council. More will follow down this expensive path.
The one word that seems to have been ignored in the amalgamation debate is the word community. I serve my community by working up to 60-hour weeks, including a lot of nights and weekends. That's not a complaint, it's a fact.
Napier's chief executive, Wayne Jack, puts in those sorts of hours and more, as he and the team work to establish a council focused on customer service and engagement.
It's all about creating a more prosperous city and province.
Importantly, we have got the community right behind us, as the survey figures show.
The whole Hawke's Bay community has enjoyed us bringing the Hurricanes and the All Blacks to the Bay. They are looking forward to the first-ever NRL competition game to be played in Hawke's Bay on July 25. They are excited about the Elite Cycling Nationals coming to the Bay.
The local business community is right behind us as we support Business Hawke's Bay and the Business Hub in Ahuriri. They applaud the fact that we have put the best qualified economic development team in New Zealand together to maximize the advantages Hawke's Bay has over other regions in New Zealand.
The local people are right behind us because the mayor and his councillors, the chief executive and his staff are all able to focus on what their community needs and desires.
By concentrating on providing amenities and facilities for the community of Napier, the whole of Hawke's Bay benefits.
Where it makes sense to do so, our community leaders should come together and focus regionally -- and we do.
We already plan and undertake all those things that it makes sense to do on a regional basis. If we find other things we can do more efficiently regionally, we will do so but the one thing we don't want to lose is our true sense of community.
Having one mayor for such a diverse region will destroy the sense of community we currently enjoy, especially in Wairoa and Central Hawke's Bay.
When will those outlying areas ever see their mayor? What affinity will the people of those communities have with an out-of-town mayor?
How could one mayor serve the people of Hawke's Bay in the way our mayors currently do?
The "bigger is better" brigade doesn't seem to care about what happens to our communities. I certainly do.
* Bill Dalton is Mayor of Napier.
* Business and civic leaders, organisers, experts in their field and interest groups can contribute opinions. The views expressed here are not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz.
* Viewpoints on the amalgamation debate can be submitted for consideration and will be used as long as no council resources, money, time or expertise are used in their preparation. This is a requirement of the Local Government Act 2002.
