Rodney Hide: Benefits for Aucklanders under new council

Rodney Hide. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times.

Let us take a moment to reflect on the good news that has already emerged regarding the benefits to be enjoyed by all Aucklanders from their new city.

The time for talking is now over and a clear picture is starting to emerge of the great single city that will be Auckland.

It will have a mayor and a council that focuses on big picture issues and strategies for the entire region, while local boards concentrate on local issues, and council-controlled organisations focus on service delivery in areas such as transport, water, economic development and the waterfront.

The emphasis will be on making it easy to do business with the new council. A network of service centres across the region will allow customers direct access to the council. That extensive service network is now well past the planning stage.

Demonstrable proof of what this will mean for Aucklanders can be found in the fact they will now be able to use their library cards at any of the 55 libraries and four mobile libraries in the region.

I am particularly proud of the fact we have established an independent board to advise on significant matters for Maori. It will be independent of the council and appoint up to two people to sit on Auckland council committees that deal with the management and stewardship of natural and physical resources.

And, to ensure a voice for Pacific and ethnic people, two advisory groups will be established to communicate their interests and concerns to the council.

Then there are the local boards that will make decisions on local matters, provide local leadership and help to build strong communities.

They will set the strategic vision and priorities for their area; advocate for their communities to the council; and have a major influence over environmental programmes in their area. This is about cutting red tape and making the council more responsive.

Moving from eight councils to one should make the system easier to understand and use.

As for costs: fees and charges for core council services such as building and resource consents, dog registration, and Land Information Memorandum (LIMs) will be standardised across the region, generally at the lowest existing levels.

And now we know the price of water is going to tumble. From the first of July next year everyone in the current Auckland, Waitakere, Manukau, North Shore and the Orewa/Whangaparaoa area of Rodney District will pay less. Many, significantly less.

Everyone will pay the same tariff $1.30, including GST, for 1000 litres of water.

These are massive savings and proof positive that the decision to amalgamate all the existing council water entities into Watercare, as the sole supplier, was a wise and justified call. Water pricing should not be used, as it has been, to disguise rate hikes.

Watercare is required by law to be a low cost provider that cannot return dividends or surpluses to its shareholder.

That restriction will also apply to wastewater charges that are not scheduled to change until July 1, 2012, once the new Auckland council has studied the many and diverse charging regimes that exist today.

For example, Waitakere, North Shore, Rodney and Franklin include wastewater billing in their land rates whereas Metrowater charges on a volumetric basis. And Manukau Water charges a fixed annual amount for residential customers and a volumetric charge for commercial and industrial customers.

So it is complicated to unravel and the new council will be entrusted with input to that.

But, given some of the hysterical predictions of the past week, I should stress Watercare's duty to be a low cost provider that cannot return dividends or surpluses to its shareholder. And, lest we forget, the new council will be operating in the new era of openness and transparency.

In the coming weeks, the emphasis will be on ensuring the smoothest possible transition to the new council structure for the benefit of all Aucklanders.

- Rodney Hide is Minister of Local Government

* From the New Zealand Herald feature, 'Project Auckland - our city'