Hamilton and Tauranga councils want a local government system that enables the housing, transport and social and cultural infrastructure growth their future communities need.
Hamilton and Tauranga councils want a local government system that enables the housing, transport and social and cultural infrastructure growth their future communities need.
Hamilton City Council and Tauranga City Council have jointly expressed disappointment with the draft report of the Future for Local Government Review Panel.
The councils say a much bolder approach is needed to take advantage of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine local government.
The two cities commissioned an independent analysis considering the opportunities and challenges for growth in their areas and submitted it to the review panel, along with submissions of their own.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate and Tauranga City Council commission chairwoman Anne Tolley say the draft report “is an opportunity to move beyond compromise arrangements and make some bold changes that will open the way for councils to make the tough decisions that will ultimately provide better outcomes for their communities”.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate. Photo / Mark Hamilton Photography
“We need a system where policy intent, planning and funding are aligned to deliver wellbeing,” Southgate said.
Tolley says better alignment is needed between the review of local government and the concurrent resource management and Three Waters reform processes.
“Our councils would like to see these reviews rescoped, with a focus on aligning roles and responsibilities with outcomes; and providing the capability and resources needed for success.”
Other key steps identified for the metro councils include:
● An overhaul of the funding system through more flexible debt-to-revenue ratios, a longer-term approach to growth-infrastructure funding and better co-ordination of channels so it can be delivered faster;
● Longer-term (up to 10 years) Waka Kotahi funding commitments, so that transport infrastructure planning is not constrained by a three-year funding window;
● Agreeing growth-planning and funding arrangements at the same time, so that plans are not relitigated during the funding process;
● Addressing the current growth financial incentives, which see the lion’s share of revenue go to central Government;
Tauranga City Council commission chairwoman Anne Tolley.
● Recognition the benefits of metro councils’ infrastructure investments extend beyond their boundaries;
● Increasing the current term of councils from three to four years, to reduce governance churn and relitigation of direction;
● Consideration of a two-tier local government system that would provide better co-ordination of investment planning between neighbouring metro councils;
● A move towards partnership-led funding and financing, which would recognise that community wellbeing is not the sole preserve of any one layer of Government.
“This is our one chance to get this right and ensure we put in place a local government system that will enable the housing, transport and social and cultural infrastructure growth our future communities need,” Tolley said.
Meanwhile, a submission by Local Government New Zealand to the review panel urges a radical rethink of how the country delivers public services, as Cyclone Gabrielle exposes the enormous challenges facing our regions.
“Local leaders were frustrated with a lack of concrete proposals in the draft report,” says LGNZ president Stuart Crosby.
“Councils across the country say the relationship between central and local government needs a reboot.”
Local Government NZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene and president Stuart Crosby.
“Right now, 90 per cent of the country’s public expenditure is allocated by the central Government. That puts us in the top three most centralised countries in the OECD. That must change. Cyclone Gabrielle has exposed many of the pressing issues that have been bubbling away over decades — issues that a one-size-fits-all approach has failed to address.”
“We want to see the panel re-imagine the way that local government and central Government work with our communities. That means addressing what roles and functions should be delivered centrally, regionally or locally — and we think the answers are radically different to the way things work right now,” Crosby said.
“Unlike a lot of other countries, councils in Aotearoa have no say on social services like housing, healthcare or public welfare. What we wind up with is a bunch of Government departments trying to tackle them one by one in the same place without sharing information between them,” said LGNZ National Council member and Far North Mayor, Moko Tepania.
Amend the LGA to embed neighbourhood governance and participatory democracy;
Adopt a revenue-sharing model under which local government receives an automatic share of national taxation;
Develop a clear and consistent legislative framework to guide how councils give effect to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi;
Create a mechanism for establishing city or regional deals;
Sign a Memorandum of Understanding between central and local government after each general election;
Establish a Local Government Centre of Excellence, jointly owned and funded by central and local government, that promotes good practice and innovation across local government and could deliver many of the panel’s recommendations.
