Letter to the Editor, Thursday July 9, 2015

Boxing at shadows

Nearly two years on since Mayor Carter was elected and what has been achieved? Very little, I say. The SFO investigation had all prior councillors and Wayne Brown under suspicion, along with the entire council management team.

What did the investigation cost and what did it achieve? Cost will be difficult to ascertain, but my estimate is tens of millions. Most of that cost hasn't been realised yet. The investigation achieved nothing other than to show spending $130,000/year on Audit New Zealand is a waste of money.

Costs that can be accounted for are the payout of the prior CEO and his senior management team, as per their employment contracts. My estimate puts that in excess of a million dollars, when legal fees are allowed for. The staff removed may come back for another bite now the SFO has found no fraud or misappropriation of ratepayers' money.

As there is no money missing, it seems to me, it was effectively constructive dismissal. Could the nature of Carter's actions on this group via the media be sufficient to trigger a civil suit? If that occurs the ratepayer will foot the legal bill and any additional payouts.

But the real cost to the Far North District has been the remaining FNDC management staff stopped planned works due to the implied cloud of suspicion they were under.

Fortunately, the last two years of budgets set by Brown, McNally and the prior council have continued and kept FNDC books in good shape. I suspect we may now see a budget blowout as this council tries to catch up on deferred maintenance and capital works. Could we see a rate rise hike similar to the Auckland Super City situation?

The failure of Carter's council to continue with the planned works budget, which was ready to roll out in a staged nature after the 2013 election, under the previous CEO Edmonds and his skilled management team, was stalled with their enforced departure.

The recent annual plan submission process and subsequent works rollout are of items that were ready to go back in 2013. So what has happened to the costs of the Kerikeri and Paihia sewerage scheme, Kaitaia sewer and water upgrade, planned Hokianga water supply upgrades? While Carter has been boxing at shadows, these costs are likely to have escalated 5"10 per cent per year.

On top of the likely price creep, what happened to the $7.5 million subsidy Brown and the prior council had negotiated for the Kerikeri sewer scheme upgrade at an estimated cost of $15 million back in 2013? The Kerikeri sewer work needed to start by July 1, 2014, under the negotiated deal, so if the subsidy has been lost then the cost quoted for the Keri sewer scheme in Carter's annual plan budget suggests Carter's pursuit of the phantom dollars may cost the Far North ratepayer an additional $15.5 million for this scheme alone.

So "No fraud" equals "No missing money," only procedural issues found, which begs the question of why we pay Audit New Zealand $130,000 per year if they can't identify and report to any councillor governance group or council management teams best procedural practice. Councils across New Zealand should be informed of this.

Of interest to the ratepayer, it seems to me, the SFO investigation on its own must have cost plenty. But who did they talk to? I have no idea who they spoke to re the allegations, but as a prior councillor, past chair and/or member of the Audit and Finance Committee for six years, I was never contacted. I knew about the majority of transactions handled by staff, and while I felt the staff lacked the skills to match some of the commercial negotiation teams on the other side of various deals, I never questioned their honesty or integrity when handling ratepayer funds.

What I do know is a fine group of people have been wrongfully maligned by the shadow-boxing Carter now in charge.

It seems to me the costs of Carter's frivolous and vexatious investigation are far greater than the $2 million (SFO amount required to trigger an investigation) Carter wrongfully claimed to have gone missing.

STEVE McNALLY

Kerikeri