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Council gets out the axe to fund the pipes

Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Deferring the Lambton Quay half of the Golden Mile project would free up $16m over the next three years, but Courtenay Place would still get a spruce up.
Deferring the Lambton Quay half of the Golden Mile project would free up $16m over the next three years, but Courtenay Place would still get a spruce up.

Another fiery council meeting is in the works as staff recommend further budget cuts to fund more than $1 billion of investment in Wellington’s pipes.

The proposal comes as the Wellington City Council is under pressure to show its dedication to funding failing water infrastructure, which has led to water restrictions across the region this summer.

It could also lead to a big rates rise. The council was on Wednesday considering a 15.4% rates increase, which is yet to be finalised but comes after three big increases for the city in the past three years

Councillors were briefed on the new funding plan on Wednesday afternoon, the day before the release of a damning report the council has commissioned into Wellington Water’s performance. The report by FieldForce4, Melbourne workplace performance specialists, is expected to be delivered to Local Government Minister Simeon Brown today and also released publicly.

Mayor Tory Whanau said if there was a “massive allergic reaction” to some of the cuts, the council would take that into account.

“I think the community will be disappointed in some of the things that we’ve proposed, but what I will say is that they are not final, we will take this consultation very seriously,” she said.

The funds freed up by the cuts would be used on $1.1b of investment in the pipes over 10 years ‒ including a new reservoir, water pressure valves and water metering. Chief infrastructure officer Siobhan Procter said it was a 65% increase on the funding allocated to the pipes in 2021.

On the line are projects including the Lambton Quay upgrade as part of the Golden Mile, the Hutt Rd bus lane and bike lanes, the Wadestown Community Centre and the Khandallah Pool upgrade.

A late snag thrown down

On Wednesday evening, councillor Tony Randle, supported by other councillors, filed a notice of motion to postpone consideration of the district plan until after long term plan decisions had been made. That could delay big decisions for the Wellington City Council as it weighs up two big pieces of work in the new year.

'It is critical that the two most critical decisions being made by this council are not being done at the same time,' he said.

The notice of motion, if it passes a vote at the next council meeting on February 29, would mean district plan decisions would be delayed six to eight weeks, he said.

Councillor Teri O'Neill, not a signatory, described delaying the district plan as an 'an egregious attempt“ by the right wing bloc to impede further housing.

'This has massive legal implications … mana whenua and [the] community have spent over a year participating in consultation - it’s undemocratic to pull the rug out from underneath them.'

The notice of motion was signed by Diane Calvert, Sarah Free, Iona Pannett, Nicola Young, and Randle.

Pannett and Free, both former Green councillors, are usually seen on the left of the council's left-right political divide.

Agreement needed on new cuts

Whanau did not like making changes to the Golden Mile, because it was a “priority passion project” for her, but said everyone on council would have to make compromise. The council was looking for possible cost savings in the Courtenay Place half of the beautification and pedestrianisation project as well.

The council already voted through a series of significant cuts last year, including demolition of the City to Sea bridge and selling the 34% shareholding in the airport.

Whanau ruled out the prospect of savings coming from the Town Hall, which could end up costing $329m but is near-impossible for the council to get out of.

Nureddin Abdurahman says the council should not touch opening hours for swimming pools and libraries.
Nureddin Abdurahman says the council should not touch opening hours for swimming pools and libraries.

But it could be difficult to get councillors to agree to the new cuts. Whanau will be holding a one-on-one meeting with each of them ahead of the meeting in mid-February to canvas support.

Councillor Nureddin Abdurahman said he was frustrated at the proposal, especially the cuts centred on reduced hours for libraries and swimming pools.

“There should be things the council cannot touch, libraries and swimming pools are non-negotiable,” he said.

“You should make it easier for young people to go swimming and to start reading. You don’t make it harder.”

He found it ironic that the council was proposing to cut suburban library hours for a saving of just $400,000 per year, while spending $186m on the new Te Matapihi library.

Diane Calvert was outraged that the Khandallah Pool was back on the chopping block along with the Wadestown Community Centre.

The two facilities would give the council “rats and mice” savings compared with the big capital projects which were continuing.

She thought the Onslow area was being targeted by staff, given two of their community facilities were suggested as budget cuts.

In contrast, Iona Pannett thought the cuts were a “moderate readjustment” and staff had done a good job.

She did have strong concerns about library hours, saying whenever it was proposed in the past there was pushback from community.

Pannett said she agreed with the Golden Mile plan in principle, but thought the aim of pedestrianising the inner-city could be achieved much more quickly and cheaply if the council just voted through a traffic resolution to remove cars on certain streets.

With the proposed cuts, next year’s rates increase would sit at 15.4%. Whanau said councils of previous decades had kept rates low and it had impacted the city in a negative way.

“We now have water infrastructure that requires so much more funding, so we're going to have to pay for that now.”

The draft Long Term Plan ‒ a budget outline for the decade starting in 2024 ‒ will be voted on in two weeks.

New cuts suggested