Pottinger and Clark Represent Council on Three Waters
A lot of people don’t know about Three Waters because it hasn’t been consulted on, says deputy Mayor Nobby Clark, who is going all out to help protect Invercargill ratepayers.
That’s because the city has huge water assets, and he’s concerned the community will have to subsidise growth areas such as Queenstown Lakes as part of the Three Waters reforms.
“Some of the MP’s don’t know why there is so much push back,” he said.
Clark and Infrastructural Services Committee chairperson Ian Pottinger just represented the council at a select committee hearing in Dunedin on the Water Services Entities Bill.
The Government plans to take drinking water, wastewater and stormwater control from council and instead have it managed by four new regional water entities.
Invercargill would be part of a South Island entity and Clark said those areas such as Queenstown Lakes that urgently need infrastructure, would take all of the dollars for their huge growth.
“The ones that are done well will be low priority.”
Rates for water could increase up to $2300 as part of the new entity, and although the council would opt out if it could, the government mandate has stopped that, so the only way to be heard was through the Water Services Entities Bill hearings.
Nobby said he spoke for the allocated 10 minutes, but he wasn’t there to talk about the bill – because the Government will continue to pursue that, he believes.
“There are political movements behind all of this.”
The bill is the first of three pieces of legislation which will give effect to the new reforms, but council’s submission outlined its concerns relating to ownership of water infrastructure.
The panel was made up MPs from different parties, including Invercargill-based Labour MP Liz Craig, Michael Woodhouse of National, and ACT Party Toni Severin.