It is not news to anyone that the pipes under the ground are a problem. They’ve been cracking and leaking huge amounts of water for years now, especially since the big quake of 2016.
Wellington Water, the management company in charge of fixing those pipes, has been asking for more money to fix those leaks for years now.
For years, to its credit, the council has spent as much money as it possibly could on fixing those leaks.
Just joking. That last line is a lie. The council didn’t do that at all.
When Wellington Water reportedly asked the council back in 2021 for $100 million over 10 years to fix the pipes, Wellington City Council said no.
When Wellington Water asked for $10m last year, the council said no. The council gave them $2.3m instead. Wellington Water had to go cap in hand to the council later in the year to get more money to fix the pipes.
When Wellington Water asked the city council in November to invest in water meters which would help them zero-in on leaks, the council said no. Water metres would cost the council money, you see. But they needed that money for other things.
Like lending $32m to the NASDAQ-listed owners of Readings Cinema on Courtenay Place so they could afford to renovate their building.
Welling Water has been asking for money to fix the city's leaks for years. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Or like ripping up the road and laying down another cycleway, this time in Karori.
Or like ripping up the road and pedestrianising the Golden Mile against the wishes of the retailers who run their businesses there.
Even if the Council has concerns about Wellinton Water’s ability to do its job efficiently, there is no one else doing that job, so it needed to be funded regardless.
Job number one for anyone elected to the council is to understand how to run a budget: money is not never-ending, it must first be spent on need-to-haves and then whatever is left over is spent on nice-to-haves.
The majority of this inept council has failed to understand that basic concept.
It is important at this juncture to apologise to the few right-minded councillors who are tainted by the same brush as the clowns they work with but it’s possible they can’t read this column anymore anyway, such is the damage they’ve done to their brains by constantly bashing their heads against the nearest brick wall.
Mayor Tory Whanau obviously thinks she’ll save her reputation by declaring in the past week that she’s prepared to cut budgets and support water meters. She won’t save it. Doing u-turns only after the new minister has hauled her into meetings only underscores that she needed an adult to tell her how to spend money.
Frankly, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown should put everyone out of their misery and appoint a Crown Monitor to help these people do their money maths. They clearly need it.
It says a lot that even Daran Ponter from Greater Wellington Regional Council wants one appointed. He’s a Labour man. You’d expect him to go gentle on the country’s most left-leaning council. But he says he’s worried about their ability to make sound financial decisions.
It’s an option for Brown to bring in some grown-ups. He opened that possibility up when he sent a formal letter reprimanding the council for failing to give him the information he requested. At the moment, he’s not going there. He seems more keen on showing them who’s boss than actually calling in the big guns.
But they deserve it.
And so do the ratepayers of Wellington. It’s their money being flushed down a leaky pipe after all.
