Mayors see proposed council reforms in different lights

Moves by central Government to clip councils' wings could undermine local efforts to encourage economic growth, Far North Mayor Wayne Brown said.

Just days before Local Government Minister Nick Smith resigned from his position last week, he released an eight point reform programme aimed at curbing council spending and rising debt levels.

The reform programme, which will be introduced to Parliament in May, would remove the requirement for councils to consider the social, economic, cultural and environmental well being of their territory and replace it with a requirement to provide "good quality infrastructure, public services and regulatory functions at the least possible cost to households and business". Prudent debt levels and fiscal responsibility requirements will also be introduced.

While Nick Smith is no longer Minister of Local Government, interim Local Government Minister Gerry Brownlee said the reforms will go ahead as planned.

Mr Brown said he was not concerned that the reference to social well being would be removed as he was not involved in social engineering, however removing the focus on economic well being was a cause for concern.

"The Far North District Council has a strong focus on facilitating economic growth and it wants to continue being a catalyst for job creation and inward investment.

"I would be concerned if the district was reliant on a Wellington headquartered agency to undertake this important work."

As an example, Mr Brown said the council under his leadership had played a leading role in securing an aerial survey of Northland's mineral resources.

"This is arguably something central government should have done years ago, but didn't."

Mr Brown also said he was pleased the proposed reforms would make it easier for the FNDC to become a unitary authority.

Whangarei Mayor Morris Cutforth said the reforms would not require big changes from the WDC as the council was already aligned with many of the proposed guidelines.

"We are in a very, very good position as opposed to a number of councils who have caused concern with the Government."

The WDC plans to spend about 80 per cent of its capital expenditure on "hard infrastructure" over the next 10 years and has relatively low debt levels, he said.

"Our debt levels are fine for the size of the council we are."

Mr Cutforth said the reforms would make it easier for councils to amalgamate and he predicted that "sooner or later the Government will ask us to combine with another council".

The WDC did not want to move into the Kaipara District Council's patch but there could be some advantages to an amalgamation of the two councils, such as sharing a boundary with Auckland, he said.

Kaipara Mayor Neil Tiller was unable to be contacted by edition time.