KEY POINTS:
There will be nowhere for politicians and bureaucrats to hide if a super city for Auckland fails to deliver savings for ratepayers, the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance heard yesterday.
The Auckland Regional Council has promised big savings from a plan to abolish itself and the seven councils for a "Greater Auckland Authority".
The ARC is the second council in as many days to propose a super city for Auckland. On Tuesday, the Auckland City Council proposed a Greater Auckland Council with 29 councillors, a Greater Auckland mayor elected at large and neighbourhood councils.
A super city would be the largest council in Australasia, representing 1.4 million people.
ARC chairman Mike Lee said he was absolutely confident of major savings from moving to a Greater Auckland Authority, which the council has estimated at $160 million a year.
A Herald survey last month found the eight councils have a combined budget of $3 billion this year, $1.7 billion in operating costs and $1.3 billion for capital works.
ARC chief executive Peter Winder said savings would come from less litigation between councils, particularly on resource management issues; less duplication of services and efficiencies in back-of-office and information technology systems. Rationalisation of council-controlled organisations for services would also save costs.
Mr Winter, whose council faced a rates revolt in 2003, said the new council would face disgruntled and dis-satisfied ratepayers if it failed to deliver savings.
"There will be nowhere to hide from that. It will be very open and transparent," he said.
Not all amalgamations have produced savings. A mega-city in Toronto in 1998 cost C$275 million ($351 million) and was predicted to bring savings of C$300 million a year. Eight years later a report found the reforms generated few if any savings.
Mr Lee said the ARC model was radical but essential for the persistent Auckland "disease" of fractiousness, disunity and cost duplication.
"We were struck with a paradox. How to achieve critical mass, regional cohesion, regional unity and how to retain the local in local government," he said.
Under the ARC model, there would be a Greater Auckland Authority made up of 24 councillors, including three Maori councillors, from wards based on parliamentary boundaries.
Mr Lee said the strongest part of the model was the creation of 30 community councils to restore local democracy and revitalise communities.
Community councils would have their roles defined by law, funding to carry out community plans and the ability to set targeted rates.
In papers tabled at the commission, the ARC said Auckland City Council's model of neighbourhood boards appeared to give them extremely limited decision-making powers.
Eden-Albert community board chairman Chris Dempsey later told the commission that community boards in Auckland City had slowly had their delegations whittled away.
Auckland City councillor Mark Donnelly said the commission had undertaken research on population, planning and transport and it would be useful to have independent research on the community tier.
This could define local community areas, find out what Aucklanders wanted at the local level, how to empower community councils and mechanisms to protect them from subsequent attacks.
One submitter, Lynda Williams, said little communities only got empowered to act when a single issue arose, like a cellphone tower in Waitakere village where she lived.
ARC PROPOSAL
* Creation of a single Greater Auckland Authority.
* 24 seats, including three for Maori, based on parliamentary boundaries.
* Mayor would be elected by the 24 members.
* About 30 community councils with five to 12 members each.
* Community councils would have more powers, responsibilities and funding than community boards have now.
