From the Mayor

Wairarapa residents and ratepayers are facing one of the most important decisions they will have to make in a very long time, regarding the future of our district.  We have to decide on how we want our local council structured if we want one at all, who will make the decisions on what we look like and who pays for it.

We cannot delay this decision as Greater Wellington Regional Council have signalled they will be putting a proposal to the Local Government Commission in the New Year and this will trigger the process for us whether we like it or not.  GWRC have signalled they favour a Super-City model which includes Wairarapa, although this has not been formally ratified by their Council and this view is not unanimous amongst their councillors. 

The Super-City model is quite different from the current arrangement of a regional council and district councils and removes all major decision making from the local voice.  The proposed local area council would be nothing more than an advocate for Wairarapa, basically a glorified community board. The Auckland experience is proving this to be so with the local board model.  The promised co-governance is not a reality.

Under the government’s proposed legislation, there will be only two options for Wairarapa.  We either join the Wellington governance scheme, or we elect to go it alone as a Wairarapa Unitary Authority, delivering both our district council functions as well as those provided by the current Regional Council. 

With the unitary model, decisions on our rates, the services we provide and what we want our district to look like will be made by local voices. The Jeffery Palmer report says that while they found strong sentiment in favour of local control they do not recommend it.  The reasons quoted are Sir Brian Elwood’s from the 1989 amalgamations, that we’re not up to it; that we lack capability.  This is totally inaccurate.  A lot has changed in the Wairarapa in twenty three years.

The biggest challenge is the so called funding deficit where Wairarapa is subsidised by Wellington in its regional activities.  There is no doubt that this subsidy exists but just how much is not easy to clarify.  You see GWRC does not run separate Wairarapa accounts so it doesn’t know exactly how much it spends here.  Its figures are based on assumptions and allocations. 

Even if we take their assumptions as gospel we should question whether they are truly sustainable. It seems that the majority of our ‘subsidy’ comes from the Wellington Central Business District. Given that the CBD is full of earthquake prone buildings, it has a 15% vacancy rate which is expected to rise as government looks to cut its occupancy by another 30% and the Wellington economy has flat lined, can we realistically expect this area to continue to prop up the rest of us? Should a Wellington building owner be subsidizing a Wairarapa flood scheme? 

Remember, a new super council would bear no resemblance to the present regional council and it is unlikely that the funding principles will be the same especially given current financial pressures.

This is an important debate.  Please get involved and ask questions as the final decision will rest with the people.