Not Better Off: funding cut by Government no surprise

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

‘Trade-off’ from increasing number of Water Service Entities 

Gisborne District Council will no longer receive $21.62 million in Better Off funding as part of the Government’s relaunching of their water policy now known as Affordable Water Reforms.

The Government cancelled the second tranche of Better Off funding with the relaunch of the policy formerly known as Three Waters.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the cancellation was disappointing but not a surprise.

“Council had not yet consulted with the public on how the second tranche of funding would be spent, so it has not impacted us.”

The council received the first tranche of Better Off funding last year. Gisborne’s share of the $500m pot for all local authorities was $7.21m.

The second tranche of Better Off funding was going to be $1.5 billion — $1bn coming from the four mega Water Services Entities (WSE) under Three Waters, which has since been changed to 10 regional WSE; and $500m from the Government.

The council’s share of the $1.5bn would have been $21.62m.

Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty, while in Gisborne on Tuesday, said the “trade-off” of moving from four to 10 WSE to give smaller districts a greater voice meant the benefits of economies of scale were lost.

The Better Off Funding of $1.5bn would have left the 10 WSE with huge debt and was “setting them up to fail”.

Mr McAnulty said the $500m of Government Better Off funding was now being “held off”.

Asked if that meant the $500m could eventually be given to local authorities, he replied: “I can’t make promises but I also can’t rule it out.”

Mayor Stoltz said the council was “looking forward to working with the Government to ensure our Tairāwhiti residents are no worse off under these proposed changes”.

The council decided in August of last year how the first tranche of $7.21m would be spent. The six projects to get that funding were —

■ $2.9m to set up systems to separate waste from households so compostable waste can be collected for future conversion to energy. This would reduce the waste trucked from this region to a landfill in Waikato by 26 percent and significantly lower regional greenhouse gas emissions.  Part of the project is to start investigations into a regional facility to process compost waste locally from households and agricultural businesses and convert it into energy.

■ $1.5 million for the continuation of the Taruheru cycleway.

■ $1m to support marae with infrastructure upgrades to ensure their future sustainability, for example, drinking water, wastewater and renewable energy.

■ $810,000 for solar panels for Kiwa Pools to reduce the ongoing energy costs for the facility and make it more affordable for the community.

■ $400,000 to remediate land on the Turanganui and Waikanae riverbank and restore the mauri of the area. This enables the Hawaiki Turanga partnership project to go ahead.

■$400,000 to help communities understand and plan for the future impacts of climate change.

Affordable Water Reforms will start in mid-2026 rather than the previous Three Waters’ date of mid-2024.