Not before time has someone in a position of influence taken issue with the mayor of New Zealand's largest city.
Mr Kircher says he is sick of hearing about every problem Auckland has and how taxpayers' money can fix problems such as housing, transport, waste water, the pressure on the port, fuel line issues and the inability to attract people like teachers, nurses and police because of the high cost of living.
Literally millions of dollars of taxpayer money were poured into Auckland earlier this year in the lead-up to the election, and still Mr Goff wants more. Every problem in Auckland turns into a crisis and governments of all hue fall over themselves to throw money into the bottomless hole called a solution.
The latest call from Mr Goff is to have the GST paid on Auckland rates to be given back to the council. Mr Kircher says the GST belongs as much to Waitaki ratepayers as it does to those in Auckland.
Everyone contributes through GST but it is only Auckland consistently putting its hand out to central government. Waitaki District Council has been criticised for having high rates but the council is paying its way.
Waitaki has dealt with almost all of its water and waste water issues, it maintains an extensive roading network and needs to continually provide improvements. The district has a reasonable number of good facilities and amenities, and it is successfully delivering economic development. Importantly, Waitaki has no external debt, and instead has been able to invest in its own future through loans to irrigation and the community-owned Observatory Retirement Village.
It is hard to take issue with the thoughts put forward by Mr Kircher. Councils, other than Auckland, have taken on more debt than can be regarded as reasonable. Large centres face trying to balance the needs of the majority with the whims of the minority. Public transport, cycle lanes and parking spaces are among the most contentious of issues and Auckland has all those issues in an exaggerated form.
However, it has been revealed just how much Auckland council staff are paid to fix these problems, assuming the council is employing the best and brightest. More than 20% of the nearly 1200 Auckland council staff earn more than $100,000 and 194 earn more than $200,000. Yet Auckland still spews raw, albeit diluted, sewage into its harbour.
The problems Auckland is facing were not caused by Mr Goff. But he did promise to ''cut the fat'' from bloated salaries and departments before he was elected.
The issues now causing Mr Goff to call for more money have been caused by a succession of elected and paid officials. It appears no planning has been carried out to deal with the population explosion in Auckland. Planning rules have prevented urban areas being developed, until it is too late. The National-led Government stepped in, trying to free up land for affordable housing. Often, those efforts were stopped in their tracks by council staff.
The formation of the new government, possibly as early as tomorrow, will have a great deal of influence on the future of Auckland. With his links to Labour, Mr Goff will be in an ideal position to commandeer more taxpayer money if Labour does indeed lead the next government.
However, National has been just as neglectful with the regions.
Mr Kircher has told Auckland to put away its begging bowl but his message can be sheeted home to other councils.
Low inflation and low unemployment means wage rises are few and far between for most ratepayers. All branches of government need to be aware of who they represent and take meaningful steps to follow the lead set by the Waitaki District Council.
