GLIDING ON AT THE NRC

Fancy working fewer hours without a reduction in pay? Then the Northland Regional Council may be for you.

In a split 5–4 vote, councillors decided to make permanent a trial that saw most full-time NRC employees move to a 72-hour fortnight, down from 75 hours, without any reduction in pay. The hours of part-time employees were reduced proportionately.

The estimated value of the reduction in staff time is $2.88 million a year—equivalent to around a 5% rates increase.

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NORTHLAND WATERS

 Northland Waters has appointed Kate Simmonds as its first chief executive. She will take up the role on 5 October. Born and raised in Northland and now living in Kerikeri, Simmonds has extensive experience in the water sector. Her involvement with Far North District Council water projects dates back to at least 2018, and she has subsequently worked as a water-services consultant.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - T2

 

“The T2 bus lane from Kamo down to the Bank Street roundabout was a potentially disastrous decision from day one, especially from Whau Valley to the Bank Street roundabout.

Not only are businesses losing income because of a lack of parking southbound and northbound, but there is the everyday potential of heavy vehicles colliding with power poles northbound because our so-called experts at Council decided to close the parking bays on the left-hand northbound lanes. Because of this, our delivery trucks are so much closer to the poles. It is a catastrophe just simmering away, waiting to boil over. Who’s going to pay for the damage? Council? I don’t think so.

I am a recently retired truck driver, and it is decisions like this that cause headaches for my mates still doing it. Wake up councillors, get it right!” – M.P.

SMOLDERS AT 18

Far North District Councillor Davina Smolders has been ranked 18th on the ACT Party list. ACT would need to secure around 14–15% of the party vote for her to enter Parliament as a list MP. The party is currently polling at around 9%.

COUNCIL AMALGAMATION

The Government has put its controversial council amalgamation programme on hold until after the general election.

Under its “Head Start” programme, councils were invited to submit proposals for restructuring local government in their regions. Eighteen proposals were received by the August deadline, including one from Northland.

The Government says more work is required because none of the proposals received unanimous support from all councils within their respective regions.

VOTE SMART OR VOTE WASTED?

 The Māori Party is adopting a split-vote strategy for the 2026 election. It is asking supporters to vote for its electorate candidates while giving their party vote to another party on the left.

That strategy seeks to minimise the number of party votes used to elect Māori Party MPs while maximising the number elected through the electorates. The result would be to potentially increase the total number of MPs in Parliament and, more importantly, increase the chances of a left-wing coalition.

POTHOLES OR POU?

 

The ACT Party says money collected through fuel taxes and road-user charges should be spent maintaining and building roads—not on expensive artworks incorporated into roading projects.

It has highlighted the following examples:

·         $630,599 for the 12-metre Te Manu Rangimaarie sculpture at the Piarere roundabout near Cambridge.

·         $810,000 for the Te Waka sculpture on the Waikato Expressway.

4% RATES CAP

The Government is proposing to cap annual council rates increases within a 2–4% range. Local Government Minister Simon Watts says the cap is intended to impose greater financial discipline and give ratepayers more certainty after median rates increases of 14.2% and 9.2% over the past two years.

If National is re-elected, the new regime will begin influencing council long-term planning from next year, with the caps taking full effect in 2029. The target range will be reviewed every six years to reflect changes in costs outside councils' control.

RMA DEAD AND BURIED

 After 35 years, the Resource Management Act has finally been put to rest.

When the RMA was introduced in 1991, it was promoted as transformational environmental legislation that would enable development while protecting the environment. Simon Upton, the Environment Minister who shepherded the legislation through Parliament, said that provided its core environmental objectives were met, “what people get up to is their affair. As such, the Bill provides a more liberal regime for developers.”