He says poor decisions have added
to rate increases. “Rates are out of control and the Government is taking
action for councils to do the basics brilliantly, rather than pursuing
expensive extras that burden ratepayers…”.
The specific changes include:
·
Removing references to the ‘four well-beings’
from the Local Government Act 2002, restoring a purpose focused on fixing
pipes, filling potholes, and delivering core local services.”
·
Refocus local government on basics, and
·
Benchmark council performance and a requirement
to publish data on rating, debt, capital spending and the condition of local
roads.
These are fine words and worthy
intentions, but the words are just fluff if they are not backed by legislation
that forces councils to change their behaviour.
A former councillor with two terms on the WDC, one prior to
the introduction of the well-being legislation and one after, described the
difference as chalk and cheese.
“The first term was all about
roads, rubbish and water (wastewater and drinking water). The second term was
after the well-beings came into effect in 2003 by the Labour/Alliance
government. Sandra Lee from the Alliance Party was the Minister in charge. Rather than focus on property services
councils were empowered to do whatever they wished to enhance the
environmental, social, cultural and economic wellbeing of the community.”
Activists were not slow in seeing the 2003 reforms as an
opportunity to advance their cause. The effect is that today, activists control
or heavily influence many councils, including Northland’s councils (with the
exception of Kaipara, where voters had the good sense to toss out the woke
council at the last election).
In Whangarei, council debt escalated immediately after the
2002 Act came into effect and has continued to rise. And, of course,
councillors received substantial pay increases commensurate with the added
responsibilities, and many are now career politicians!
The radicals now embedded in local councils will not be
persuaded away from their cult-like faith by logic or reason. There are only
two ways change can happen: Either the central government forces change through
strong legislation (which is unlikely), or voters use the ballot box to boot
out the radicals.