Water and rates, halls and mines have dominated the council landscape in Central Otago leading to the elections.
People are standing for mayor, council and community boards in sufficient numbers to require an election in every area, suggesting there are plenty who think they can do a better job than those sitting around the tables now.
However, it will remain to be seen whether election promises can be kept once a potentially disparate group is assembled in chambers. Can they compromise and move the community forward or will there be three years of status quo?
Water and how to manage it has drawn vigorous debate in the community, with many struggling to understand how a council-controlled company works and what councils have been compelled to do by central government.
Central Otago has committed to a CCO with Gore and Clutha district councils. While the joint company is expected to be more economical than each going it alone, there is no doubt those using council-delivered water services will be paying in their water bills. As outgoing Cromwell ward councillor Neil Gillespie said, while the cost of water will be removed from the rates bill it will just arrive in a different envelope.
Last year the council decided to spread the cost of most services evenly across the entire region rather than in each ward. This led to angst in Cromwell about the town’s endowment land and what income from future sales could be spent on and where.
Construction of the $45 million Cromwell town hall, now referred to by the council as the Central Otago events centre, with predicted running costs of more than $1 million a year to be spread across the region, has led to some muttering in other wards where roads and bridges are of more immediate concern. While some costs will potentially be offset by income from hall hire and a cafe in the building it seems likely the ratepayers will be bearing a least part of the expense.
Central Otago is the fourth-largest district in New Zealand by area but home to just 25,500 people. A large part of the challenge facing the council is the sheer breadth of area and concentrated pockets of population.
In a region that began largely with gold mining the prospect of another large endeavour has caused divides in communities. While the prospect of an international airport at Tarras appears to be off the table, Santana Minerals’ imminent fast-track application for its Rise and Shine mine, near Bendigo, has spurred furious debates of protecting the environment versus improving work opportunities and the economy.
Rates have risen in the past years in line with other parts of the country and the current mayor may well regret ever uttering a comment about people struggling to pay rates now not being able to afford them in two years’ time.
With the ever-increasing cost of housing and rental properties being at a premium there seems to be potential for Central Otago to follow its neighbour’s lead into becoming unaffordable for those working to service the growing population. How long anyone working in retail or care homes can afford to live in the area remains to be seen.
Incoming councillors will need to have a firm grasp on what they can actually achieve as one vote around a table laden with dictates from central government but no cash to implement them.
Voters need to be confident those they vote for are grounded in reality and can deliver what they promise. Talk is cheap, assurances easy to offer but follow-through is often a much more difficult creature altogether.
