Opinion by Southland District Mayor Rob Scott.
I recently had my son’s school report emailed to me. I didn’t miss an opportunity when I got home to say in a stern voice that we need to sit down and have a chat. As a worried look came across his face he said “but Dad, um, I think I did OK, was there something I did bad??” My stern look morphed into a smile as I patted him on the back, and said no son you did great – we’ve got some things to work on, but good job! I could see and feel the sense of relief come over him, as a slight sense of guilt came over me for winding him up.
I started to reflect on a conversation with the Prime Minister a couple of weeks ago where he said that it was about time there were “adult-adult” conversations between central and local government. This really resonated with me because he is 100% right, and the adult-child conversations are starting to get a bit old.
I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to run through my emails, only to find the Local Government Minister and the Prime Minister having another crack at councils in their latest announcement. I take my job very seriously, so it is hard not to take criticism personally, even if it is aimed at the sector as a whole. It is like there is one kid in the school who has acted up a bit, so now everyone is getting a bad report card. I realised I was feeling just like my son was a few minutes ago – guilty for something that I hadn’t done and confused because I know that the results were not correlating with the feedback.
I would like to challenge the government to put themselves under the same level of scrutiny, noting that an average Southland household pays $36,000 annually in tax compared to around $3,200 in rates. We already clearly show our ratepayers where their hard-earned money is going, I don’t see the same accountability for their tax. I don’t see long-term planning in Wellington either, especially for infrastructure. Do I need to mention Harbour Bridge clip-ons, light rail, or the Dunedin Hospital?
Yes, the previous administration can be blamed, but one can ask if it has ever worked, as the pendulum swings from left to right with hundreds of millions of dollars being spent in a cycle of political turmoil at the expense of getting things done on the ground. Perhaps we could also implement compulsory delivery on election promises…
The announcement is somewhat ironic given it is timed with the release of a new levy to fund more bureaucracy in Wellington for “Local Water Done Well” which will be mandated to be charged by councils and will increase rates across the country. Here’s the kicker on that one too – it is being proposed to be charged based on population at around $4 per head. I am sure our large rural population will be stoked to hear they are going to be paying additional rates for waters bureaucracy when they are not connected to council supplies!
I have made it very clear to the government that a core component of our rates is roading, and our ratepayers are having to cover an unequitable share of the costs via rates when they are already paying for it in fuel taxes. We only get half of the funds generated on our roads back, and each ratepayer in Southland is responsible for 151m of roading compared to just 1.6m in Wellington or 4m in Auckland.
A sentence that I used a lot when communicating with our communities through our recently adopted long term plan was that we are laser focused on delivering the basics and delivering them well. This LTP is not only heavily audited, but also heavily consulted on with our communities because ultimately it is for our communities. The government doesn’t have to ask us to focus on our core infrastructure, it is what we are already doing, but the fact that they are not addressing the holes in the funding allocation from the money that is produced from our roads, so that we can spend it on our roads, is leading to us having to defer maintenance and/or increase rates to an unaffordable level.
Quite often councils and communities are left to pick up the pieces when decisions in Wellington let our communities down. Rather than continually focusing on the negatives, it would be nice to see an adult partnership approach where we can work together in the combined interests of our people.
Wishing you all a fantastic festive season – I know for some of you it is a time of extra hard work, and for others it can also be a hard time of the year. 2024 is just about done and dusted, and I am already prepping for a big 2025. See you next year.