Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

I have just started analysing the Regional Council's Ten Year Plan and the more I read, the more compelling is the argument for structural local government reform.

This could well result in the Western Bay of Plenty as a stand-alone Unitary Council (combining Tauranga City, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, and integrating the western part of the Regional Council. I know that the Regional Council needs to look to the big picture, but Western Bay ratepayers (including those in Tauranga City) seem to being asked to continue to unfairly fund Rotorua's environmental degradation.

The plan states that the Regional Council will spend an average of $12.8m every year over the 10 years on the Rotorua Lakes, of which only $3.6m will be targeted to Rotorua ratepayers, whereas $9.2m will come from the general rate bill (of which Western Bay ratepayers account for about 67% of the general rates collection). And this before and subsidising Rotorua's air quality issues by more than another $1.1m per annum. Over the past couple of years our regional councillors have reviewed the way that rates are collected, and yet they appear to have failed to address the issues of equity and fairness. I have never been opposed to supporting a comprehensive Lakes cleanup, but unfortunately Rotorua City councillors have not helped themselves (an example being their spending around $60m to expand their 'regional” airport). Both Western and Eastern Bay ratepayers have for too long been putting their hands in their pockets for Rotorua ratepayers, and the Ten Year Plan clearly signals that the Regional Council expects this to continue for the next 10 years and beyond.

The regional council's proposed 130% rate rise over the next ten years is just not acceptable. The bottom line is that council spends most of its money in staff costs, and if they want to hold rate rises to the cost of inflation then the first thing that they need to address is staff numbers. The Regional Council is excellent at ‘planning', but most ratepayers are looking for ‘less hui and more doey'. Central government is addressing staffing non-front line staffing issues, and it is long overdue for local government to follow this lead.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me at [email protected]