And dramatically, it is possibly the most poorly contested local Government elections in New Zealand’s history. Many candidates being elected unopposed and in at least one case a by-election will be required because there isn’t enough candidates on the ballot to full the available roles.
Tasman fares no better. Many sitting councillors have jumped ship (some are saying that they didn’t want to face the music for the mess they have created) and few people are putting their hands up to replace them. The Maori electorate candidate is unopposed. Several other wards leave voters with a very limited choice.
Perhaps the lack of enthusiasm is inspired by the bagging that Councils have received from central Government recently. Or perhaps people believe you can’t change Council, which they are right about if you don’t vote, or continue to vote for more-of-the-same and expect a different result.
As you drive by the billboards, read the fancy slogans and hear the grand promises, take a moment to reflect on past campaigns. The reason that seasoned campaigners say whatever they think the voters want to hear is because they know that they won’t be held to account when they fail to deliver.
Let’s look at a couple of the few sitting councillors standing again and measure them against their promises. The mayor, for example, first campaigned under the “Positive Change” banner, claiming his experience could keep us within the debt and rates caps. Since then, the debt cap has been scrapped, and rate increases have doubled—or more—beyond the original cap. Positive change, apparently.
Councillor Mailing has campaigned for “less staff,” he told a Richmond Town Hall meeting that it was his job to make sure the dam was completed “on time and on budget,” and most recently he campaigned for “affordability.” Since I left the Council 3 years ago the staff numbers have exploded by 100 or so to in excess of 400. The dam that he took responsibility for was over a year late and cost more than $100 million over the budget. I am not sure what your idea of affordable is, but his voting record shows he has rubber stamped every staff increase, rate increase, and debt increase. You can see how your councillors voted by downloading this collection of recorded votes on annual plans and major affordability decisions—records made public only because Councillor Greening called a division, the only time votes are attributed to names.
The most recent annual plan saw a proposed astronomical rate increase and so staff were instructed to go way and find some cuts. They came back with the idea of doing away with several public toilets, no longer providing doggy doo bags, and halving the street sweeping. This shows a desperate scraping the bottom of the barrel attempt to save pennies.
Since that fateful plan, the Tasman District has experienced several major weather events that have caused millions of dollars in damages. Residents are now demanding actual river and road maintenance on a regular basis. And most of the forest that has traditionally helped lower rates is now lying on the ground. How will a more-of-the-same Council fund this given that the barrel has been scraped?
Going cap-in-hand to an equally broke central government is not a long-term solution . Neither is cutting maintenance to rural roads as already touted by the head of Engineering. Nor is endlessly increasing debt. Central government is even proposing rate caps that will leave little room for spending if interest rates rise again.
The Kempthorne/King/Bryant legacy is one of financial ruin. If we keep electing more-of-the-same councillors, it’s likely unelected commissioners will soon be appointed to run the council . Possibly why the mayor says that his will be his last campaign. If you think this is far-fetched then know that our current CEO came directly from ECANZ, the Canterbury Regional Council, where she helped steer them into exactly that predicament.
Ballooning staff numbers are unsustainable. The current culture is unacceptable. It’s appalling that compliance staff were out inspecting vacant tiny homes—making sure they hadn’t been rented—a week after the Tasman District emerged from a state of emergency, when families had lost homes and were cut off by road washouts.
This is not the Tasman I grew up in. And it is not the future we should leave our children.
It is time to vote out the remaining business as usual rubber-stampers and appoint a Council prepared to make radical change.
As always: This message is approved by Dean McNamara – candidate in the Moutere/Waimea ward. You can contact me here.
