Local Government Minister Simeon Brown this week announced legislation to ‘reform’ local government.

Pure shameful grandstanding, cynically premised upon voter stupidity. 

Or as Mayor Craig Little told BayBuzz more generously, “They (Minister Brown and other central government types) have no understanding of what we do. Until they get ‘down and dirty’ with us, they won’t understand.”

The two pillars of the proposed ‘reforms’ are ridiculous.

First, all sorts of supposedly new rigorous reporting of councils’ spending will be required so that voters can be better informed at election time.

But the fact is, all of this reporting (audited, by the way) is already available in each council’s Annual and Three-Year Plans – debt ratios, capital spending, operating costs, affordability measures – all consistently presented across the councils.

A voter need only care enough to look. But most don’t and so are susceptible to Minister Brown’s insinuation that they are being misled and abused. For most ratepayers, fiscal ignorance is bliss until the rates bill arrives. Blaming councils for not communicating enough about their spending is like blaming teachers for students not doing their homework. Give those teachers a slap!

And as for accountability being served at election time, most non-incumbent candidates are equally ignorant of council budget realities, so glibly promise reductions that prove impossible to achieve. Just watch how much budget restraint is promised by our local candidates before next October’s local elections.

The second pillar of the ‘reforms’ is removing the so-called ‘four well-beings’ (social, economic, environmental, and cultural) in the current Local Government Act. Brown says, “Evidence shows that including the four well-beings in the Act led to about two per cent higher rates growth each year. Removing them sends a clear message that councils must focus on roads, rubbish, and reliable infrastructure.” The implication is that councils wantonly splurge on social ‘nice to haves’ and grand projects that apparently have no public support.

To Mayor Little, removing the ‘well-beings’ sounds innocent, but again ignores some basic realities. At least in Hawke’s Bay, councils’ (TAs) spending is already overwhelmingly driven by roads, rubbish and infrastructure. 

In Wairoa’s case, after those are covered off, even if inadequately, there’s virtually no money left. Yet at the same time, Wairoa faces challenges in aged care, health services, crime, mental health that are simply not being met by central government. And local officials feel obliged then to step in however they can to provide support.

Mayor Little says when he came into office the Council wasn’t spending much money on anything … “and our town was dying”. He sees prudent spending on social support and amenities as essential to creating a viable, growing community, and with that Wairoa has revived.

I interviewed Mayor Alex Walker at the outset of our councils’ recent three-year budget planning. I asked her, what do you say when ratepayers say ‘Get back to core business, cut the waste and fluffy stuff’? Her reply:

“In our budget, fully 75% of the spend is for pipes, pumps, plants (of the waste treatment variety) and roads. That’s as core as it gets. Then from the 25% take rubbish pick-up and landfill, a sizable cost and necessity, and about 100 hectares of parks and reserves to maintain.” Her point, what is discretionary? “Take away the 25% and nobody will mow the lawn or take care of the cemetery and our halls and facilities will fall into wreck and ruin.”

That’s the reality, Minister Brown.

Missing from this ‘reform’ package is any recognition that the current local government funding model is totally broken … not fit for purpose given modern expectations regarding the public services people want that are not met by central government. 

So while the local government share of GDP spending has flatlined for decades, the central government share has steadily risen, even as Government after Government, of whatever partisan stripe, has ‘delegated’ increasing responsibilities to councils without commensurate funding support.

Mayor Little thinks Government officials don’t realise how “up against the wall” local councils are. He notes the recent independent review of local government responsibility, capacity and funding (The Future for Local Government), which he believes did a good job of laying out the issues and options. But which now seems ignored, probably because the Labour Government initiated it. BayBuzz covered the review here.

That report recommends a variety of measures to address the funding situation. These include an ‘intergenerational fund for climate change’ driven by regional/local decision-making, enabling councils to introducing new funding mechanisms (community bonds, suggests Mayor Walker), more outright cash commensurate to devolved place-based responsibilities, and central government agencies paying rates and charges on their properties. It also recommends local councils’ ‘consolidation’.

Minister of Local Government should read it and respond with substance, not with the slap at councils in this ‘reform’ legislation.

Meantime, should we be keeping councils’ feet to the fire, demanding fiscal restraint and clarity around priorities? Of course. But that requires ratepayers to pay attention more consistently and get better informed so as to complain intelligently as needed. BayBuzz will do its part.

As the saying goes, we get the government we deserve.