Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says NZTA’s proposed road funding cuts after severe weather ‘challenging’ for councils

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has acknowledged a proposal to cut funding for emergency road repairs will be “quite challenging” for local councils left to foot the bill, but says the agency has to manage its budget in the face of increasing severe weather events.

Brown was asked about the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) proposal by Labour’s Kieran McAnulty during Brown’s select committee appearance on the Budget.

Some mayors have raised concerns about the proposed change in criteria for the emergency roading fund, saying it would leave councils to cover more of the bill.

The proposed change would mean NZTA’s emergency funding only applied to one-in-20-year weather events, rather than one-in-10-year events. It also proposed changing the funding contribution from 20% to 10% – leaving councils to cover more of the cost.

McAnulty said the issue had been raised with him, telling Brown some mayors had told him “this would cripple them financially”.

Brown, who is also the Transport Minister, said NZTA was consulting on the changes and it was up to the board to decide how it allocated the funding. However, he was aware of councils’ concerns and had discussed “some of the concerns” with the board.

“The combination of those [changes] could be quite challenging for many councils. I’m aware of those concerns. Ultimately the NZ Transport Agency board will need to make a determination as to what the right decision is in terms of managing their own funding and how they can best support councils to recover quickly from local events.”

Brown said the agency had been faced with increasing severe weather events and was having to manage its funds taking that into account, but supporting councils and ensuring roads were repaired quickly in such circumstances was one of its roles.

He told the committee the proposal was aimed at saving about $40 million a year. “That is something which for some councils would be a considerable amount of money, based on the events we’ve seen.”

Brown said it would not have retrospective effect, so would not affect the funding contribution for roading repairs after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Hawke’s Bay mayors have already asked the Government for more help to rebuild roads after the cyclone, citing the high costs and extensive damage.

NZTA’s consultation paper on the Emergency Works Investment policies review cites the “significant increase” in the scale, intensity and costs of weather events, and the need to address the high cost as the reason for the review.

Changes to the definitions, processes and investment policies would take effect from July 1, 2024, while changes to the eligibility criteria and funding rates would take effect from July 1, 2025.

Earlier this month, NZTA announced its package for pothole prevention, saying it would deliver a record $2.07 billion for state highway pothole prevention and $1.9b for local road pothole prevention over the next three years.