Palmerston North councillor William Wood: What does a change of government mean for us?

Palmerston North city councillor William Wood says the council will have to work closely with the new Government to find the best of both worlds for Three Waters funding. Photo / Kevin Bills Media

OPINION

The exact shape of the next Government won’t be known until the special votes are counted and a coalition agreement is signed. What we do know is that some collection of National, Act and New Zealand First will form the next Government and there are a number of things we can take from their respective campaigns that tell us what changes we will likely see.

The big one for Palmerston North is the scrapping of Labour’s Three Waters legislation and maintaining local council ownership of these assets. Although this is a win for the city, it comes at a cost. Much of the council’s budgeting had assumed that the cost - and, in turn, the debt - for our Three Waters upgrade would be off the council’s books.

This change means the council and ratepayers will be picking up the $400m-plus tab for the upgrades required to meet our legal obligations.

There is a silver lining, however. Last year, the council saw this possibility coming and investigated a number of alternative Three Waters funding and financing options, which will now need to be set in motion. As an example, special-purpose funding vehicles exist where the debt could be kept off council’s books.

Although it is not certain exactly how the upgrades will be funded, it is certain we will have to work closely with the Government to find the best of both worlds - one where we maintain our local ownership but find alternative funding routes rather than simply putting it on the rates.

A more exciting opportunity to come from a change of government is the possibility of “city deals”. This is a concept borrowed from the UK, where the government and the city would partner on a number of local projects. We may have the chance to build a city deal. What could be in it? That’s up to us and our community to decide.

If I was at the negotiating table, I’d be asking for a new swimming pool – many other regions got new pools funded from the shovel-ready projects fund.

I’d ask for support to develop a new library and museum, as both Central Library and Te Manawa are earthquake-prone and need significant strengthening.

I’d ask for the regional ring road to get freight trucks off our residential roads and out of the city.

I’d ask for investment in council housing projects.

Although we do not know exactly what is going to happen, we do know that the next three years will bring with it a host of challenges and opportunities for the city - ones I look forward to tackling as your city councillor.

William Wood is a Palmerston North city councillor.

Editor’s note: This is the last column in this round of councillor contributions. Vaughan Dennison, Roly Fitzgerald, Leonie Hapeta and Billy Meehan did not respond to the invitation to participate. The next round will start in March.