Regional Council Backs Single Unitary Authority as Governance Debate Continues

While the Regional Council continues backing a single Bay-wide authority, Whakatāne Mayor Nándor Tánczos says there is strong community interest in an Eastern Bay unitary council.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has released three proposed local government models for public consultation as councils work towards a regional proposal for central government.

The regional council, along with the region's district and city councils, is seeking public feedback before a preferred proposal is presented to central government by August 9.

The regional council is consulting on three models.

Its preferred option is a single Bay of Plenty unitary authority, supported by three local leadership authorities made up of councillors and mayors representing the Eastern Bay, Western Bay and Rotorua sub-regions within the wider governance structure.

The second option is three separate unitary authorities for the Eastern Bay, Western Bay and Rotorua.

The third proposes three separate unitary councils supported by a region-wide entity delivering regional services.

Regional Council Chair Matemoana McDonald said the council saw value in retaining a regional overview, which was why larger council structures were preferred.

However, public concern about losing local representation had also been recognised.

"We're listening and we have taken into consideration the three sub-regions and we've already started to focus on how a framework could work for that and a construct for that as well."

Maintaining local voice and representation at a regional level is important, she said.

"t's maintaining that local voice which is a concern at the moment and ensuring that the representation of local voice and local issues are carried over into the central decision-making construct."

While financial modelling is still being completed, McDonald said initial indications suggested smaller standalone unitary councils could face higher costs and regional services may receive less emphasis.

"What we're guessing will emerge will be the implications for those smaller councils."

"If there isn't a wider merger with other councils, the financial burden may be more than what they're currently experiencing.

"But that is still work that is currently being done that we want to finish and share with the territorial local authorities."

She said district and city councils would ultimately decide what new governance structures looked like, while the regional council's role was to provide financial modelling and regional analysis.

The regional council's biggest concern remained how environmental protection and Māori interests would be prioritised under any new governance model, McDonald said. 

"Our purpose has always been protecting the environment, so some of the questions for those people in that space, who play a very proactive role alongside regional council, would be about talking to the territorial local authorities on how they would prioritise the protection and enhancement of the environment amongst everything else they have to do."

She said discussions around Māori representation and how councils would engage with iwi under any new structure are ongoing.

The regional council opened their consultation after the district and city councils began consulting with their own communities.

Whakatāne District Mayor Nándor Tánczos said residents had been highly engaged.

"A lot of it's around clarification, just really trying to understand because it's quite complex, and then people are interested in what the options are in front of us."

People had also shown interest in how neighbouring regions, including Taupō and the Coromandel, were approaching local government reform, he said.

Alongside frustration about the short consultation timeframe, many residents had asked what would happen if councils chose not to participate in the Government's Head Start process.

"The danger in that is that what the government's made really clear is that the status quo is not an option and if we don't go into the Head Start process, we're going to be caught by backstop legislation.

"The danger is that we get put into some kind of arrangement that we don't want to be in, as opposed to trying to shape an arrangement that works best for our communities," he said. 

Tánczos said staff had also been speaking with iwi leaders about priorities for any future governance structure, including environmental management and council boundaries. 

"There's an interest in how to line up amalgamations with iwi and waka boundaries and so there are those whakapapa links that I think are really important."

While consultation continues, he said staff had been directed to investigate options that reflected community feedback.

Outstanding debt and Quayside holdings management were still being explored, and it could be difficult to provide detailed findings in the short time frame, he said.

One idea for ensuring areas that are amalgamating with councils holding higher debt, is ring fencing.

"You could ring fence the debt for that geographical area in a new unitary authority and target rate the payment of that debt for that area so that other areas don't have to pick up the cost of the debt of who they're joining with."

The rates would be equalised over time, he said. 

Staff were also examining whether economies of scale could reduce costs over the longer term.

"Some of the modelling we've been doing on potential joint water services shows there are savings to be had, but they're probably 10 years away because the first 10 years of savings is really just paying for the cost of the transition."

Work is also continuing on how existing regional functions, including integrated catchment management, could be delivered under a new structure.

Tánczos said one option could be a joint committee similar to the existing Bay of Plenty Local Authority Shared Services organisation.

He said a unitary council could potentially operate with a leaner organisational structure, helping keep costs down.

There had been strong public  interest in an Eastern Bay unitary authority, Tánczos said . 

"There's no decisions being made, but if we did end up with an Eastern Bay sub-region and there seems to be a strong feeling in the community that that's the way we should be going, that's of a similar size to other unitary authorities that currently exist." 

"I think if you look at other unitary authorities of a similar size, they are delivering the functions of the regional and the local authorities and it's certainly no more expensive than what our ratepayers pay across the districts and regional council now." 

He pointed to Gisborne's land mass, population and demographics as an example, and said it demonstrated that smaller unitary authorities were not necessarily more expensive to operate.

Both McDonald and Tánczos encouraged residents to have their say while consultation remained open. 

Tá nczos said it would become clearer later this month whether a formal regional proposal would proceed and what it might include.

He cautioned that even if councils reached agreement, central government could still reject the proposal.

"The Government has said they intend to introduce bespoke legislation for each proposed unitary. If they get one or two proposals, then sure, that's doable.

"But if they get 10 or 20 proposals, I find it hard to see how they'll get the parliamentary time for those pieces of legislation because legislative time is really precious and ministers are always competing with each other to secure it."

He believed some proposals were likely to be rejected, but said putting forward a united regional position remained important.

"I think we as a region want to go in together saying we support each other's proposal and then, even if we get caught by the backstop legislation, the Government will have a clear idea of where we think the best way to go is, and hopefully that will influence future Government decisions." 

Mayors and councils will continue meeting weekly to discuss consultation feedback and refine proposals ahead of the August 9 deadline.