Rodney Hide’s Royal Commission has decided that all the councils in the Auckland region should amalgamate and hopefully save the ratepayers a fortune.
And now its being suggested that other regions should follow suit – especially Wellington – but many are including Hawke’s Bay in the mix.
Well lets look at the facts. Napier, over many years has been administered in a sensible conservative manner. I take no credit for that, most of the good work was done well before my time. But the fact remains that the Napier City Council is likely to have a gross debt position by the end of this council term of just $41m.
At the same time the Hastings District Council is likely to have a debt level of – not $41m – but $95m. No wonder Hastings ratepayers support amalgamation.
Napier City Council $41m of debt – Hastings District Council 2.3 times that amount.
Why would Napier’s ratepayers want to absorb that level of debt? In fact it is bloody ridiculous to suggest that there is any fairness or equality in such a proposal.
If Rodney’s clever boys try and enforce an amalgamation between Napier and Hastings, I for one will be recommending that Napier borrows $50m and has a big spend up on facilities to ensure that Napier’s ratepayers do not end up simply paying off Hastings’s debt with no increase in facilities or services.
Let me make my position clear. I do not advocate excessive spending by the Napier City Council or excessive borrowing by any local body.
But if a marriage of the Hastings District and Napier City Councils was forced on us then I would be derelict in my duty as a Napier City Councillor if I didn’t recommend a massive debt funded spend on facilities for Napier.
And of course the old cash cow, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, would have to be included before any amalgamation proposal got my support.
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April 12th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Hello again Bill. There is plenty of precident where amalgamation has taken place between councils with a disparity in debt. Prior to 1968 when Napier and Taradale amalgamated there were 12 what we today call Terretorial Authorities – city, borough and county councils – in Hawkes Bay. By 1989 there were four. I believe that the disparity in debt levels was accommodated by ringfencing debts to the constituent area of the old council.
There are arguements for and against amalgamation but inheriting another council’s excessive debt need not be one of them. If this had happened we would not have had the voluntary amalgamations of the past.
Cheers
Ewan McGregor