A FEW things stood out for me at Wednesday night's presentation by the Local Government Commission at the Carterton Event Centre, on the draft proposal to create Greater Wellington Council.
Firstly, I have to compliment the willingness of two LGC public servants who were there to present the nuts andbolts of the draft proposal and the procedure, but were brave enough to face questions when the original agenda was no questions from the floor, only prior emailed questions. With a short amount of time left, they took questions on as best they could.
It was also notable how rude some members of the audience were, and it was easy to see the exasperation and embarrassment of other audience members. I was expecting some disgruntlement, and hoping for it, since questions were supposed to be off the agenda. But a minority, not really understanding the concept in front of them, opted for insults.
But what especially stood out for me was the realisation among the audience, after a lot of rebuffs to particular questions, that a lot of detail simply wasn't available. In fact, it would seem that to answer a lot of detail on financing and rate equitability we have to have a Greater Wellington Council in place first. It will be their job to figure it out. There is, it seems, a significant cost to set up such a council, but there is also an estimated saving (against the status quo) that would, in time, cancel out the cost. But there's a lot of detail we don't know. As Sir Bob Harvey put it, it's a gamble.
Another factor driven hard to the audience was the financial shortfall facing the unitary authority concept. While the commission presenters couldn't be specific, they were hinting they thought it was at the high end of the $2 million to $11 million estimations.
I think the jury is still out on how much real representation local board members will wield, considering there are only two elected councillors for Wairarapa.
I also think we have reached the expiry date for Auckland agitator Penny Bright, who scored no points with an Auckland-themed question.
But one large message was clear: make a submission. It was the response offered back to the audience, to many of the questions. The presenters dropped the biggest hint of all - it's your responsibility to have your say.
