Day of Democracy - sombre mood in South Waikato

Friday, 29 November 2024

Talk about elephants in the room. There was pretty big one sitting in on the final meeting of the South Waikato District Council for 2024.

With two councillors on leave, one late due to roadworks, and another beaming in from home with a suspected dose of Covid, there was not a lot of chatter to lighten the mood.

At times, mayor Gary Petley seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders as councillors were presented with tricky issues such as rates arrears - an almost perpetual problem in the South Waikato.

Needless to say, this could get a lot worse if a proposal to axe 230 jobs at the district’s largest employer at Kinleith Mill goes ahead.

The council’s chief financial officer, Wiki Cortesi, said there were a higher number of rates accounts in arrears compared to the same period last year.

“Council currently has rates arrears of $3.48m, of which $2.75m relates to previous years … this is not going down.

“The situation at Kinleith will make a difference, but by how much, we are yet to see,” she said.

Chief executive Susan Law said the council’s next annual plan would take into account the situation at Kinleith, “but our financial position for the next nine years remains precarious”.

However, Cortesi said the council’s operating deficit was $1.82m less than budget, due to a higher than usual return on development contributions and interest rate swaps.

Tīrau ward councillor Kerry Purdy questioned staff over the council’s proposal to join with almost all of the region’s councils - barring Hamilton City and Waikato District - in their Waikato Waters Done Well initiative.

She was concerned the proposal could see the district’s water assets sold to a new entity with no control from council and that the South Waikato “could lose our voice”.

Councillor Bill Machen said while he was loath to hand control on important council services over to a new Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), it was the best of a bad situation.

He was also concerned that a possible change of government could set them back yet again, as successive government’s tend to scrap the other’s previous legislation.

“I was pretty keen to go it alone - but the Government want to box us in and we could end up where we don’t want to be.

“Working with like mined councils in our area is our best option … it’s better than the original three waters deal with four major entities,” he said.

The council’s planning and performance manager Gary Knighton said up to 60% of the council’s capital expenditure goes into water services, and to be fair, not one councillor said the situation was ideal.

Councillors voted unanimously to proceed with entering into a non-binding agreement to progress talks relating to Waikato Waters Done Well and the formation of a multi-council controlled organisation.

“This is not a final decision - we still need to discover the full picture, which includes further financial information, and consult with our community,” Petley said.

“But government has been clear that councils must land on a solution themselves by September 2025 or face having that decision made for them.

“Water management is a critical area, it’s our largest capital expenditure, and this decision is a significant one for our district.”

Petley said alongside the regional model, the council was continuing to assess the viability of delivering water services through a standalone body.

He said he’d like to progress the proposal because “after the next election it could all get flipped again”.

Both options will be presented to the community for consultation in the first quarter of 2025.