Nosing around the councils a bit since the election, it sounds like three big issues will be front and centre once all the new folks get their feet under the table.

Budgets

Of course the election super-sensitised candidates-now-councillors to the imperative of curbing rates, which means curbing costs, since councils have no other significant means of increasing revenue.

So heaps of workshops (none of which have been public, in contradiction to expected practice) are underway to introduce newbies to the realities of council budgeting, mandated costs and the like. The good news might be that borrowing costs should be lower than when rates were projected for 2026/27, the first budget year for which the new teams will have complete authority. We won’t see how future rates reduction is shaping up until February or so next year.

The other major impact on some councils’ budgets will be from removing their responsibility for water services – drinking water, stormwater, wastewater. Which brings us to big issue #2.

Water services reorganisation

For CHB, Hastings and Napier councils, those responsibilities and costs will be shifting to the new regional water entity – the Water Services Council-Controlled Organisation (WSCCO). Significant staff, operational costs and borrowing will be moved to WSCCO, together with its need to ping water users for payment! That entity doesn’t become operational until July 2027.

However, now through 2026 heaps of work must be done to plan the major amputation of water services from the three affected councils.

Wairoa declined participation in the WSCCO. And unaffected HBRC will devote its water attention to determining what kind of future flood resilience is sufficient and whether it will really cost $600 million.

Regional decision-making

For the region’s mayors and HBRC chair, it won’t be enough to get their own houses in order. They also need to repair the broken structure and process for making regional decisions – the Matariki Governance Group (MGG), on which they all will sit, alongside iwi representatives.

Despite its administrative and operational dysfunctionality (described in this report), the MGG was the vehicle that helped the HB Regional Recovery Agency address cyclone recovery in a coordinated, intelligent way. It was also supposed to give guidance to the HB Regional Economic Development Agency, now in limbo. That MGG was championed by mayors Walker, Hazlehurst, Wise and HBRC chair Ormsby, none of whom will now be at that table. 

So, none of the newbies have any experience with MGG (and one of them was directly critical of it during his campaign) or other cross-council collaboration, but it will be their job to recreate, rejuvenate, make more transparent and accountable whatever regional decision-making structure and process will carry us forward. A priority that cannot wait.