What the Government might pay to take water infrastructure away from local councils could be clear within weeks.
But speculation continued yesterday that Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta would abandon her plans and make being part of the massive water reform under way mandatory as the proposed overhaul was too big to fail.
Yesterday, the minister met Ngai Tahu representatives and members of Otago and Southland’s 10 city, district and regional councils, in Dunedin.
‘‘That’s about the last big piece of the jig-saw that I can see that we need before we are out to consultation,’’ Mr Cadogan said.
The minister did have the option of making the reforms to wastewater, stormwater, and drinking water services mandatory, he said.
But he believed the minister thought the process was on track for the decision to be left with councils before the end of the year as originally intended.
Ms Mahuta released the Government proposal for four new multi-region water providers to take over the role filled by nearly 70 councils this week.
She also released a financial analysis of every council in the country, which she said showed the reforms would save ratepayers thousands of dollars by 2051.
With the reforms, the vast majority of the South Island, based along Ngai Tahu territorial boundaries and excluding the very top of the island, would be served by one water provider.
And as smaller councils initially appeared to benefit the most, speculation that Christchurch might opt out began almost immediately.
‘‘Everyone has to be in for everyone to receive the benefits we have modelled for,’’ Ms Mahuta said yesterday.
‘‘There is a lot of talking going on right now to keep all local bodies involved in this conversation.’’
There was an opportunity to announce compensation packages at the Local Government New Zealand annual conference starting on July 15, she said.
But there was a lot of work to do before then.
A Department of Internal Affairs three waters reform programme spokesman said the water reform was being done in parallel with a review of the future for local government.
The review panel for that process was due to provide an interim report in September this year and a final report in April 2023.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said the review formed an integral part of the discussion about water reforms, but the conversations were already very financially complex.
‘‘I think the minister is genuine in saying she is not planning on making it mandatory, but equally it will be a political call and they will have to see how things are looking over the next 100 days and whether the overall business case is enough to convince councils to vote to stay in, or whether they opt out.’’
National Party local government spokesman Chris Luxon told Morning Report yesterday that if enough councils pulled out, it would make the reforms largely impotent.
There was a risk in asking councils to opt-in that the large water providers would have ‘‘holes in them’’.
‘‘And then you start to lose the benefits of scale, and of combining them, and so I think that there are some merits to simply the Government going with that mandated structure.’’
Green Party co-leader James Shaw also said he thought the Government was starting to lean towards a mandated model rather than the opt-out model.
But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was optimistic councils would be persuaded.
‘‘We are seeing over time as the evidence demonstrates what this will mean for their ratepayers . . . we are seeing some councils shifting their view and I imagine that will only continue.
‘‘What we’re seeing from local government at the moment is really broad support for these proposals, but ultimately we’d love to bring everyone on board.
‘‘There’s a little bit of time to run yet and so we are working really closely with councils.’’
— Additional reporting Mike Houlahan and RNZ
