Get ready to vote on council future

The future of Hawke's Bay will be in your hands next week.

On Monday voters will open their letterboxes to the above voting paper.

In the ballot's accompanying information overleaf, electoral officer Warwick Lampp says the proposal seeks to change the local government structure in Hawke's Bay by amalgamating Central Hawke's Bay, Hastings and Wairoa Districts and Napier City and forming a new council for this area called Hawke's Bay Council.

"The existing councils will be abolished along with Hawke's Bay Regional Council," he explains.

"The area will exclude the small parts of Rangitikei and Taupo Districts now in Hawke's Bay Region.

"Voting papers are being sent to electors across the whole Hawke's Bay Region. The outcome of the poll will be binding.

"This brochure contains a summary of major items from the reorganisation proposal prepared by the Local Government Commission and where further information can be obtained."

The leaflet outlines the current proposal merging the region's five councils.

"The proposal itself provides for the establishment of a single council, called Hawke's Bay Council, for the Hawke's Bay Region. The council is to be a unitary authority," it says.

"With a governing body comprising of a mayor and 18 councillors, and with five local boards. The 18 councillors are to be elected from five wards, being the same areas as the five local board areas."

In addition to this, there will be a regional planning committee, a Maori board and and a natural resources board.

According to the brochure: "Council headquarters will be in Napier with area offices in Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and Waipawa and a service centre in Waipukurau and the new council coming into existence on 1 November 2016.

"Until July 1, 2021, existing council loans will be repaid by targeted rates in the area for which they were raised, and existing council financial assets will be used to contribute to the renewal or replacement of infrastructure in the area the assets were held."

So what happens after the final vote?

"If more than 50 per cent of electors who vote in the poll vote for the proposal, it will proceed through a transition process, leading to elections for the new council in October 2016 and the new council coming into existence on November 1, 2016," the overleaf explains.

"If 50 per cent or more of those who vote vote against the proposal, that will be the end of the process and status quo local government arrangements will continue."