Simeon Brown receives advice on Wellington City Council intervention as Tory Whanau aims to ‘share the pain’

• Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has received advice on potential government interventions at Wellington City Council.
• Mayor Tory Whanau says budget cuts will target new infrastructure and community building projects.
• A key council meeting on November 21 will determine which cuts are included in an amendment to the Long-Term Plan after the failed airport share sale.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has received advice on potential Government interventions at Wellington City Council, which he is considering with “seriousness and urgency”.

This is after the council voted to stop the sale of its 34% share in the airport – upending the Long-Term Plan (LTP) it signed off just three months earlier and potentially triggering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cuts to capital spending.

Brown subsequently asked the Department of Internal Affairs for advice, saying the council “looks like a shambles”.

He confirmed today he had received the advice and was considering it. He would not reveal further details.

“I’m taking it with seriousness and urgency but I’m not going to be going into those details here today.”

Asked by Newstalk ZB Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan whether he had to take any decision to Cabinet, Brown said intervention was a ministerial power under the Local Government Act.

“However, with all of these things, consultation with colleagues is important.”

Meanwhile, Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has said budget cuts would target new infrastructure and community building projects as they are debt-funded.

Whanau met with councillors this afternoon to discuss what would be a “fast-moving process” to amend the LTP.

She hoped key elements of the draft amendment would be ready by the end of the year.

“Making savings is a difficult process and we also discussed the principles that we should take to inform that,” Whanau said.

“As a top priority, I think every councillor agrees that the LTP amendment decisions should not further increase rates and should not reduce funding for water.

“The focus is on reducing new infrastructure and community building projects as these are debt-funded.”

Whanau said she wanted to avoid cuts to social housing and critical climate action.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have both expressed concerns about Wellington City Council in the past week. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“I know that reductions to community projects are difficult”, Whanau said.

“Where these are considered, it is my view that we should seek to share the pain as much as possible across different wards and between the central city and suburbs.”

Councillors have previously agreed to investigate the sale of the council’s ground leases and carbon credit holdings.

A key council meeting will be held on November 21 to debate which cuts will be part of the LTP amendment.

Brown said he had not been briefed on the decisions made at Whanau’s meeting with councillors today.

“I met with the mayor last week, she gave me an outline in terms of some of the work she’s got under way.

“Ultimately, as I said last week, we’ve got concerns in regards to the fact they’ve decided to effectively relitigate their entire Long-Term Plan and we’re obviously concerned about the impact that may have on ratepayers here in Wellington.”

Brown did not have any further meetings lined up with Whanau at this stage.

Whanau has maintained that addressing the financial hole the suspension of the airport sale has left, without further increasing rates, is a bottom line for her.

Regardless, Brown has continued to voice concerns about rates increasing further.

Wellington ratepayers have experienced one of the highest hikes in the country – the latest averaged $1000 a household or an increase of 21%.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.