The gloves came off in the dying stages of a three-day hearing into the super-city draft proposal yesterday when Masterton mayor Lyn Patterson launched a no-holds-barred attack on the rationale for lumping Wairarapa into the mix for a Greater Wellington council.
Mrs Patterson told a panel of three Local Government Commissioners Masterton District Council not only totally rejected the concept but found the threat it posed to all small councils in New Zealand " intolerable."
Supported by the council's chief executive Pim Borren and finance manager David Paris the mayor flayed into the commissioners over what she described as their unjustified rejection of a Wairarapa Unitary proposal and of false information which had skewed the public's perception of the options for change.
In particular Mrs Patterson attacked claims Wairarapa could not financially survive on its own and was reliant on millions of dollars in subsidies from "over the hill."
Whereas the figure of $10-$11m in subsidies for such things as public transport had been touted Mrs Patterson said in reality the deficit was not likely to be more than $2m to be spread across what was now three territorial local bodies.
The subsidies meted out to Wairarapa had evolved from a document largely relying on regional council management and staff estimates - "they were based on assumptions". "In two years these assumptions had taken the subsidy total from $4.5m to a supposed $11-12m," she said.
The mayor claimed wrong subsidy figures fed a belief rates in Wairarapa would have to skyrocket if the district did not go along with the super-city concept, but that was not so.
In what developed into a testy exchange at times, especially between Mrs Patterson and commissioner Janie Annear, who twice took umbrage at being interrupted when asking questions of the council panel, the mayor used a "glaring error" the commission had earlier owned up to in its financial research as an example of shortcomings in the draft super-city proposal.
Masterton District Council Chief executive Pim Borren and mayor Lyn Patterson.
Last month consultants admitted they had under-estimated the cost of merging nine councils to form a super-city by $26m in data provided to the commission.
She fired a broadside at the draft's stated intention of setting up local boards which, she said, would in truth be only delegated "a little bit of business here and there" and "even that would have to be in agreement with the governing body."
On the other hand it was "unbelievable" Masterton district's rural roading network which was "pivotal in getting our produce to market, our kids to school" would be the responsibility of a local board.
"You thought so little of where 30 per cent of our expenditure goes that it didn't even need to be the responsibility of the governing body," Mrs Patterson said.
Describing the super-city proposal as "one of the biggest con jobs I have ever seen" Mrs Patterson said the whole issue was really about a power struggle over the hill.
"The LGC report is insulting and patronising to Wairarapa. "We are proudly rural and can stand on our own two feet, with affordable rate increases" she said.
Regarding the threat to other smaller councils Mrs Patterson said Wairarapa was part of "rural/provincial New Zealand."
In size Masterton district sat about halfway down the list of councils, having a population of about 40,000.
Mrs Patterson said what worried her was the notion if the combined district councils in Wairarapa couldn't " make it happen" then what would become of those further down the list.
"This is about rural, provincial New Zealand. "It is intolerable to me to be told those councils don't matter anymore."
