With the announcement of the team of commissioners, former Mayor Tenby Powell says he feels assured Tauranga is in good hands.

'I've always said Tauranga deserves better leadership and I congratulate Hon Nanaia Mahuta for her discerning choice of commissioners for New Zealand's fifth largest city.

'Tauranga is 20 years behind in infrastructure, housing and social amenity and, with our newly appointed commissioners, I feel assured we are in strategic and pragmatic hands.”

Tenby feels the city has commissioners who understand Tauranga's unique and challenging needs.

'Retired National MP Anne Tolley and her team comprising Bill Wasley (who has Chaired Smart Growth for over 20 years), Stephen Selwood (former boss of Infrastructure New Zealand), and Shadrach Rolleston (a town planner with a deep understanding of the RMA and iwi relations), have a big job ahead, yet they are well equipped for the task.”

He says the most important step from here is for the city to get behind them to get Tauranga moving.

Tenby says Tauranga has a significant funding gap that needs to be closed – and the actions required to achieve that will need to be comprehensive and coordinated.

'The infrastructure funding model for fast growth centres like Tauranga simply doesn't work anymore.

'It's time to address it at a central government level. And my hope is all high-growth councils will benefit in time. Added to that - years of under-investment in growth infrastructure, due to the political ramifications of increasing rates costs, have exacerbated Tauranga's problems.”

In the year to June 2020, Tauranga city's population is estimated to have grown by more than 5000, just over three per cent.

'And yet the available land for greenfield developments is seriously constrained, so our population growth is putting immense pressure on housing supply and costs, and on existing infrastructure,” says Tenby.

'Fast-growth centres like Tauranga also have limited debt headroom, meaning revenue has to increase significantly before major new infrastructure investment can be accommodated.”

The new commissioners' - Anne Tolley, Bill Wasley, Stephen Selwood and Shadrach Rolleston – term starts today and end after the triennial local authority elections on October 8, 2022.

Read more here about the commissioners.

Powell says the commissioners have an opportunity to advocate major change for Tauranga within central government - some of which is happening and needs reinforcement.

'They need to make low-interest rate finance capital available to developers who are building new homes, increase Kainga Ora's current $7.1b debt limit to allow it to expand its current home-building plans (14,400 homes by 2024), invest more in the council infrastructure needed for new developments and more medium-density developments in and around the CB, buy or assume the debt connected to our three waters infrastructure (which is really only two waters).

He says this would give TCC circa 50 per cent more headroom to borrow for other infrastructure needs, allow the council to capture value from increased land prices when re-zoning decisions deliver unearned capital gains and share GST revenues linked to new housing development and population growth with councils and rebate GST on rates, so TCC can use the increased revenue to borrow more thereby mitigating an unnecessary cost burden on ratepayers.

'As former Mayor of Tauranga, I congratulate the commissioners on their appointment and wish them every success in continuing the push for better leadership and delivering a better Tauranga for all.”