Hamilton City Council just made a submission on the two Three Waters-related bills that were introduced in December. Photo / Hamilton and Waikato Tourism
Hamilton City Council just made a submission on the two Three Waters-related bills that were introduced in December. Photo / Hamilton and Waikato Tourism
Hamilton City Council (HCC) just made its submission on two Three Waters-related bills introduced in December calling on the Water Services Legislation Bill to be withdrawn.
In its submission, the council says the bill is clumsy, rushed, and inconsistent with other laws and HCC intends to raise further points in a talk with the Finance and Expenditure Committee.
The controversial Water Services Entities Bill became law in December, but former Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta introduced two other bills, the Water Services Legislation Bill and the Economic Regulation and Consumer Protection Bill shortly after.
The latter two were open for submissions from local councils until February 17 and Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate says her council’s 114-page submission would leave the Government in no doubt of Hamilton’s position.
“This ... piece of legislation risks embedding previous flaws and creates new ones. In its present form, this bill does not improve the wellbeing of Hamiltonians,” she says.
“Our council remains strongly opposed to Government’s four-entity model for Three Waters Services Reform. We wanted different options for ownership, we wanted better representation and oversight for our community, and we wanted to look at smaller, regional models through co-operation and partnership with neighbouring councils,” Southgate says.
Hamilton City Council says the Three Waters Reform Legislation Bill is clumsy, rushed and inconsistent with other laws. Photo / Supplied
She says the council’s view wasn’t just an opinion but based on a clause-by-clause analysis of the bill undertaken by council staff.
“We will be making these points when we speak with the select committee and we urge Government to make changes before it’s too late,” Southgate says.
HCC’s submission raises concerns about the prospect of “taxation without representation”, a lack of connectivity between councils and the entities for growth, and a disconnected definition of stormwater.
The bill would make the entities exempt from being rated by local councils. Council’s submission says this is unfair, introduces an additional requirement on Hamiltonians to subsidise the region outside their rating base and is inconsistent with the national rating approach for other utility providers.
The Water Services Legislation Bill is a technical extension of the new Water Services Entities Bill. Photo / File
“This bill appears rushed and poorly thought through. The haste to piece it together has made it clumsy,” the submission reads.
“The bill is overly prescriptive, creating a ‘one size fits all’ approach which removes the ability to innovate or respond to specific local needs.”
The passing of the Water Services Entities Bill into law means the four new entities will take over water services from councils in July next year.
Regarding the start date, HCC says that this timeline “appears unrealistic”.
Former Waikato Regional Council CEO Vaughan Payne will lead Entity B, which HCC and all other Waikato councils will be a part of. Photo / Supplied
When the four entities take over, all Waikato councils, together with some Bay of Plenty and Taranaki councils, will be part of Entity B, led by former Te Pūkenga (NZ Institute of Skills and Technology) deputy chief executive of operations, Vaughan Payne.
The Water Services Legislation Bill is a technical extension of the new Water Services Entities Bill, and includes 130 pages of amendments to the bill that passed.
The Economic Regulation and Consumer Protection Bill sets a framework for the four entities which includes guaranteed service levels for the communities living in an entity’s area, controls on pricing, service and revenue, and a dispute resolution service to protect consumers.
The Finance and Expenditure Committee will report back to Parliament by May 25.
