Waitomo mayor pushes amalgamation plan

Sunday, 3 May 2026

Waitomo mayor John Robertson says one council covering the King Country could be the way forward for smaller rural councils in the region but neighbouring mayors are not so keen - not yet anyway.

Robertson formally pitched his plan at a recent Waitomo District Council meeting where it gained the support of all but two councillors who said it lacked a solid business case - but they were not totally against the idea.

Robertson sought “feedback from councillors on the development of a King Country Council as part of the local government reform process”.

“In fact, I seek by way of resolution more than that - your support for such an initiative,” he said in a report.

He said his proposal stemmed from a recent Waikato Federated Farmers meeting on the Government’s “Simplifying Local Government” discussion.

Robertson said Federated Farmers were worried rural representation could be lost under some reform models, and supported rural councils remaining stand-alone with some amalgamation, and opposed a Hamilton-centred “super council”.

“I am of the same view.”

He said ideally, it would be the amalgamation of Waitomo and Ōtorohanga district councils, but could be expanded.

In his report, he said efficiencies “could be gained” by the two councils amalgamating, and estimated more than $1 million a year could come off rates.

Councillor Janette Osborne was concerned the mayor’s move would bind the council into supporting a concept “of which the detail has never been presented to the council for consideration”.

Councillor Allan Goddard agreed with Osborne, and said while he supports the promotion and lobbying for one rural council, could not support the proposal “until a detailed concept is developed and presented for consideration”.

Council meeting minutes state the council “supports the concept of one King Country Council and the mayor’s promotion of this”.

Robertson admitted he had his work cut out for him in promoting the idea, but after the transfer of the council’s drinking and waste waters services to Waikato Waters Ltd the time was right to start a serious conversation on rural council amalgamation.

“For small councils, we cover large areas of land but we're small on population.

“This then brings up the question of shared services, and small councils coming together - merging, and amalgamation - and in our case with, with Ōtorohanga sometime in the future.”

He said having two councils covering populations of around 10,000 people each, amalgamation the two would still allow for high levels of local decision making.

However, Ōtorohanga mayor Rodney Dow said his council had a lot to deal with this term, and while councillors had discussed the proposal informally, would not commit to any formal process “at least not in this triennium”.

“At the moment, our focus is just on Ōtorohanga and we have no desire whatsoever to amalgamate with anyone in this … but who knows what the future holds.”

“We want to look at shared services or strategic partnerships where it suits.

“Possibly it will one day morph into one, but I really can't see the point at the moment.

“So we've informally discussed it, and looked at the issues … there's not much point writing a big report if we're not interested, it's just wasting ratepayers' money,” Dow said.

Hauraki mayor Toby Adams said shared services agreements among smaller councils in the region were working well and his council had no real desire to change.

He said the setting up of new Waikato Waters Ltd council-controlled organisation “doesn't automatically trigger your council into thinking that we should amalgamate”.

“But if we can share some resources, even some staff, then I’m 100% up for that conversation.

“Amalgamations aren't necessarily the right mechanism … I've got no appetite to have amalgamations of councils as a whole.

“When you've got a council that's overlooking a much larger area, things tend to get missed.”