Central Otago district councillor Martin McPherson said the government push for larger unitary authorities to replace district and regional councils around the country could harm the rural district.
And the proposed change did not address ‘‘the fundamental flaw in the whole funding of local government’’.
‘‘The problem is the current land tax — i.e. rates — does not achieve the financial security local government needs to progress for the best interest of their residents.
‘‘It’s that simple and it’s been ignored from Wellington and it’s our obligation to keep reminding them.’’
Further, the narrative that amalgamation would save ratepayers money, or fix issues facing the district was ‘‘rubbish’’, he said.
‘‘I think if there’s a message that I want to see go out to our community, it is ‘don’t buy into the BS that this is going to save you ratepayers money.’
‘‘It will not — it will end up costing you more.’’
At last week’s Central Otago District Council meeting, Cr McPherson said tourism officials had only just been reminding councillors of their selling point to visitors.
‘‘We are unique, and we need to hold on to that,’’ he said.
In a report to the council, governance and business services group manager Saskia Righarts said the government had announced a voluntary ‘‘head start pathway’’ for councils who could reorganise themselves before wider reform of the sector after the 2028 local body elections.
She said cabinet decisions would take place in September, and a select number of proposals would be invited to proceed for further consideration ahead of final Cabinet decisions in May next year.
If councils opted not to go for a ‘‘head start’’ a backstop process would be in place, but details on that process were scant at this stage, she said.
Central Otago District Mayor Tamah Alley said a council survey ahead of the amalgamation process, now under way, was not aimed at understanding who residents ‘‘want to hold hands with’’, but instead what their views were on the future of local government.
‘‘This is our opportunity to really not just talk about mergers — this might be talking about the form and function of local government, and a big part of those conversations across Otago will be what are the trade-offs for local voice versus efficiencies versus cost savings.’’
The issue that struck her, though, was a lack of certainty in the process and a lack of detail on the pathways in front of the council.
‘‘The real challenge at the moment is there is zero detail around what the alternatives are,’’ Mrs Alley said.
‘‘So there is a head start process which we could spend a whole load of time and money pursuing either individually or as a group of councils, which is contingent on the current government being re-elected at the end of this year, which may or may not happen, and then implementing the legislation that is required come 2027.’’
Further, the government had already indicated that whoever put in a head start proposal ‘‘they’re only going to pick a few’’.
There had been a suggestion that there might only be ‘‘somewhere between four or six’’ of the head start proposals accepted.
‘‘When we were asked to organise ourselves to put forward the Three Water entities we managed to consolidate the 70-odd councils into 42 entities.
‘‘Even if we were really amazing at mergers and talking to our neighbours then say we got to 20, that still means three quarters wouldn’t proceed.
‘‘And there is no detail on what happens if you put forward a head start proposal but then aren’t chosen.’’
Working in the the council’s favour though was that the councils in Otago were talking together and were trying to collaborate wherever possible in terms of sharing the cost of the investigation phase, she said.
Councillors voted unanimously to have conversations with other councils about potential proposals under the proposed head start pathway.
