Councils have less than 3 months to propose a future governance model to the central government. Reform is decades overdue.
Some 20 years ago I supported a move to a unitary authority model, referred to in Geoff Robinson’s article (on page 16 of Issue 1212).
This concept got support from the community but it was never seriously considered by TCDC. Since then, our rates have skyrocketed and efficiencies have declined. Bureaucracy has multiplied exponentially and the cost and time required has become a disincentive to try and get things done. There’s a myriad of instances where the process costs exceed the actual works costs by a substantial margin. Quite rightly, the current government is replacing the RMA and reviewing local government structures.
At this stage it looks as if the RMA replacements won’t go far enough but today, I want to concentrate on local government reform. Unitary Authorities (UAs) won’t solve all these problems but should assist in reducing duplication and complexity. The TCDC response due on 9 August is a high level one. If accepted by the Government, it will need to be followed up with more granular details at stage 2. The things we need to consider at this stage are size and representation.
SIZE
TCDC going it alone will not be accepted and even joining with Hauraki may be considered too small. An amalgamation of TCDC, Hauraki, Matamata-Piako and possibly the far northern part of WBOP (Waihi Beach) would join communities of shared interests, largely rural and coastal (with the exception of Matamata-Piako). Such an amalgamation risks losing a lot of skills and experience currently residing in WRC as well as some funding. On the other hand, one outcome could comprise the entire Waikato Regional Council area, a proposal promoted by WRC. For the rural districts the latter would have financial advantages as a lot of environmental initiatives are largely financed by Hamilton ratepayers. The challenge would be how to ensure that the smaller communities have a say and are being catered for accordingly, which brings us to:
REPRESENTATION
In a Unitary Authority, care must be taken that Urban and Rural interests don’t collide. Currently a lot of rural matters are being considered by WRC, whereas the bulk of urban matters fall under the districts. In terms of area, rural far outweighs urban; in terms of population, it’s the other way around. A sensible option promoted by Federated Farmers is to strengthen Community Boards (CBs), representing predominantly urban interests and reviving Catchment Committees (CCs) catering predominantly for rural areas. A further notion to consider is to elect Councillors separately in urban and rural wards. This could simply be based on zoning. These Councillors would have a close relationship with the CCs. Parochialism is a recurring issue in the present system and always hard to avoid. There are no easy answers but some mitigation might be achieved by having a proportion of Councillors elected area wide, depending on the size of the Unitary Authority. Another aspect of representation is voting rights. The principle of ‘no taxation without representation’ would indicate that ratepayers are the ones entitled to vote. That would include absentee landlords rather than tenants.
EFFICIENCIES
One promoted rationale for the reforms is reduced bureaucracy. For TCDC that should mean redundancies in Thames if the headquarters of the new Unitary Authority are not based there. To improve bureaucratic efficiency through reduction is never easy. Bureaucracies have a tendency to enlarge themselves for some simple reasons. Ambitions can be fulfilled by either climbing the ladder or taking the easier path – elevating your position by creating jobs below you. But to create those jobs, more rules have to be created for the new staff to implement.
I remember a time when a small rural subdivision was as simple as putting in an application and following approval by the Council on the advice of one of their planners, the council engineer would indicate what was expected and he would inspect the infrastructure to approve it or indicate improvements. No disasters followed. Things were just getting done without needing a small army of planners, engineers, landscape consultants, biodiversity consultants, heritage reports and RMA legal experts. It’s a chicken and egg situation: what came first, the rules or the bureaucracy?
Creating improved efficiencies could well be the biggest challenge of the current reform.
TCDC appears to be a late starter in this process but on the positive side has promised to involve the public in its decision making. My words are just a simple overview of the basics. There are a lot more pitfalls and complex issues to work through and time is very limited. This is a challenging period for our elected members and it is important that they get the views of the public directly and don’t rely on ‘sanitised’ proposals developed by staff.
It’s on the rate payers to inform themselves and express their views.
The Informer sought this piece. Dirk Sieling is a long-time resident and a significant volunteer contributor to the development of Mercury Bay. He resides at Ohuka Farm.
