It’s a good time to keep ‘house’ at Whangārei District Council - Mayor Vince Cocurullo

You’ll notice lots of activity over the next few weeks, as the council continues its programme of essential works across the district, Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo says. Photo / Michael Cunningham

OPINION

Maintaining a district is like looking after a very large house: there is always work to be done!

With a limited housekeeping budget, you need to ruthlessly prioritise. You’re constantly cleaning, repairing, and trying to get the most out of the things you already own. You can sometimes afford to upgrade or replace parts, yet you’re always making your money stretch as far as it possibly can.

Very occasionally, you might buy something new for your house. When that happens, you’ll have thought long and hard, compared options, deliberated, discussed, and probably asked for the opinion of your housemates. It’s always about getting value for money and asking if your decision works for everyone.

When you’re doing a good job maintaining your house, you look ahead and plan for problems before they happen – and that’s what we do here at council with our Long Term Plan and Annual Plan processes.

We track the health of our waste and water pipes, stormwater drains, roads, bridges, parks and tracks, and through the Long Term Plan, we allocate budget for repair and maintenance, upgrades and replacements. We also look at where our “house” might need brand new additions to accommodate our growing “family”, and what infrastructure will be needed to support that growth.

It’s all about timing and planning.

Central Government is asking us to plan 30 to 50 years ahead, and with the high growth that Whangārei and Northland has been having, sometimes it feels we are guessing what will come next. We have been hit with pandemic lockdowns, extreme weather, economic downturns, and construction cost increases, and we all know the money is just not stretching far enough. We are not alone; the rest of the country is facing the same issues.

You’ll notice lots of activity over the next few weeks, as we continue to complete our programme of essential works across our district.

You’ll see us checking on the health of our stormwater and wastewater pipes along Punarere Drive, replacing rising mains along Kioreroa Rd, and checking on the wastewater pipes in Onerahi.

We’ll be out patching urgent potholes ahead of scheduled roading maintenance, and we’ll still be clearing slips and fixing road damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle for a while yet. We’re stretching our housekeeping money as far as possible, which is why we sometimes ask our housemates to help by mowing berms, picking up litter and telling us of any graffiti or damage to our property.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t live in a large house, and I don’t live an extravagant lifestyle. I’ve been driving the same car for more than 11 years. I was taught to prioritise needs over wants, and how to budget for what I needed – and that’s how we run this council.

Council’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 is focussed on making sure our house continues to meet the needs of our ever-increasing, diverse family in the most economical way possible, and you can be sure we’re stretching that rubber band to keep delivering core services and infrastructure to our district.