Cyclone Gabrielle bringing two old foes together like never before

Friday, 23 June 2023

Is a new day dawning in Hawke’s Bay, with two old foes combining forces for the common good? (File photo)

‘Amalgamation’ is still a dirty word in some circles in Hawke’s Bay, where Napier has twice refused to join its neighbour Hastings. But, while a true coupling may be some way off, the huge costs each council face after Cyclone Gabrielle may see the old foes combining forces in a way they never have before.

The ratepayers of Hastings District Council and Napier City Council face costs running into the hundreds of millions to repair damaged roads, bridges and other infrastructure, as well as a yet-to-be negotiated share of the voluntary buyouts of damaged properties.

The cyclone effectively swept away the long-term plans of the five Hawke’s Bay councils (Wairoa, Napier, Hastings, Central Hawke’s Bay and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council) and has prompted a wholesale reassessment of projects, priorities and potential cost savings.

Hastings, arguably the most affected district with 200 properties falling into the ‘voluntary buyout’ category, lost 16 bridges and has ratepayers facing a $200m cost just to repaid roads over the next 5-7 years (assuming central government provides the 73% contribution).

* Hundreds of homeowners to get voluntary buyout offers for cyclone-hit properties

Esk Valley after Cyclone Gabrielle hit on February 14. The cost of voluntary buy-outs of the worst hit properties, and how much councils pay, is yet to be worked out. (File photo)

* Cyclone-hit Hawke's Bay councils facing recovery costs nearing $2 billion

Nigel Bickle has been Hastings District Council ceo since 2018 (File photo)

Chief executive officer of Hastings District Council Nigel Bickle said roading makes up just a part of the recovery cost, and notes that the same ratepayers paying for this are also paying rates to the regional council, which is itself trying to work out how to cover $800m in extra costs due to the cyclone.

The Redclyffe Bridge over the Tutaekuri River at Waiohiki was one of 16 bridges lost in Hastings in the cyclone. (File photo)

“You don’t have to work very hard when you start layering all this up to start wondering how we are going to fund all of this and how the ratepayers can afford it,” Bickle said.

The property buy-outs alone will cost “hundreds of millions”, said Bickle, with negotiations between central Government and the councils yet to determine what share each pays.

“I’d hazard to say, the cost to council won’t be small,” said Bickle.

Looking at what can be cut over future years in order to make savings is fraught, with “the days of easy trade-offs and cost trimming for councils are over” he said.

Truck driver John Milne swam across flood water and walked 3 hours up a hill to get to safety during Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We’re going to have to do something differently than we’re doing today. We’re going to have to explore stuff around shared services and different models of delivery,” he said.

“This is not about amalgamation. Let’s look at infrastructure and say, hypothetically, that we’re looking at a cost of about $2billion on the transport network and flood protection over all the Hawke’s Bay councils over the next 10 years. Maybe the smart thing to do is to have a shared infrastructure services instead of all going out on our own. If we had a Hawke’s Bay 10year infrastructure programme that was well coordinated and prioritised, and we could package up that work – that may be way better for our communities and a lot more cost-effective than trying to do it on our own,” Bickle said.

Which begs the question as to why this doesn’t happen already. To understand that you probably need an understanding of the sort of friction that has existed between Napier and Hastings over past decades, and which resulted in the failed amalgamation bids in 1999 and 2015.

That was all before Bickle’s time. He took his role in 2018.

“At the end of the day you need to keep the communities and individuals at the centre of this, and acknowledge that a lot of the activities and services we do are common… The moment you make it about having one Lord Mayor of Hawke’s Bay and talk about amalgamating and changing representative arrangements you open a whole world of other problems”.

“But in terms of behind the scenes we already do a lot in common already. We have joint waste management approaches, we jointly own the airport, jointly own the landfill. I think we need to enhance delivery for our communities. We clearly need to do things more cost effectively than the status quo,” he said.

Isn’t this a kind of ‘amalgamation by stealth’?

“People will say that, but I think it’s actually about making things better for the communities and making sure they get the best possible services over the long-term. I don’t know where all this is going to land, but I know there’s a genuine commitment between councils to explore working collaboratively,” Bickle said.

Napier City Council’s new chief executive Louise Miller couldn’t agree more. She noted her council already provided some IT services on behalf of all Hawke’s Bay councils, administered all the websites, and worked together on GIS services.

“I completely support Nigel’s comments. Despite the challenges the cyclone has brought to us, one positive result has been the really productive and close working relationships that is evolving between all Hawke’s Bay Councils. We have always had excellent working relationships, but the cyclone is developing these further,” she said.

“I acknowledge the cost of recovery and costs facing our community are significant and challenging. The Future For Local Government review has outlined shared services as an option to lower costs for councils. We’ll be taking a closer look at this as we go through the Long Term Plan development process,” Miller said.