Waitaki District Council unanimously voted to adopt a revised water services delivery plan at an extraordinary council meeting yesterday.
The plan will now be submitted to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) in the hope it is approved after a previous iteration was rejected.
Staff, assets and debt are due to transfer to Southern Waters in July next year.
There will be consultation with staff affected by the restructuring, a council statement said.
Water will not be included on rates bills from the 2027-28 financial year and residents will instead receive a separate water bill.
The multi-district water entity also comprises Central Otago, Clutha and Gore district councils and has been described as the “best path towards financial sustainability”, with significantly lower costs than if Waitaki went in-house, which it almost did.
Despite the expected savings, water charges are still due to increase by 124% within a decade and affordability for households will worsen.
In a release following the council vote, Mayor Mel Tavendale said Southern Waters represented a “more affordable pathway” for water customers in the district.
Questions were raised in the council meeting about what implications, if any, joining Southern Waters had in relation to amalgamation.
Deputy mayor Rebecca Ryan said there was a level of uncertainty in the community about what it meant for future options.
Yesterday’s decision did not lock councillors into any particular amalgamation pathway, chief executive Alex Parmley said.
Councils have until August 9 to voluntarily come up with amalgamation proposals — the Head Start pathway — or risk having plans drawn up for them.
Mr Parmley also said Southern Waters could end up growing to include more councils.
Cr Frans Schlack said he was “absolutely convinced” Southern Waters and amalgamation were not intertwined.
He urged councillors to keep an “open mind” and not let the Southern Waters makeup influence future decisions.
Mrs Tavendale said “when it comes to whatever Waitaki looks like in future I think we can find a way to manage our CCO appropriately”.
Councillors also heard almost a third of pipes in the district were either in poor or very poor condition.
Cr Sven Thelning said ageing assets had not been managed well nationwide and they were now having to “bite the bullet”.
Crown facilitator Amy Adams — a former government minister who was drafted in at a cost of $1600 a day to help get a revised plan over the line — joined the meeting virtually.
She felt “positive” about the plan and was “expecting a good result” from the DIA.
Cr Dan Lewis said if they had not approved the document, which they were required to submit by the DIA, it would have been a “red flag” for the government.
The prospect of further intervention by the government was a risk if councillors did not approve the revised plan, the meeting was told.
Waitaki is the 11th biggest district by land area but 44th for population which was “challenging” when it came to funding upgrades to ageing infrastructure to meet government standards, Mr Parmley said.
There was also no government co-funding or subsidies as was the case with roads.
Southern Waters will manage assets worth $684 million and deliver water to 84,000 people.
