Horowhenua District Council selected as a foundation council for new standards programme

Horowhenua District Council has been selected as a Foundation Council for a new independent standards system measuring local authorities.

The Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) Excellence Programme aims to improve the value and services of councils by measuring indicators such as leadership, finance, service delivery and community engagement.

Horowhenua District Mayor Brendan Duffy says the excellence programme lines up with Council’s own strategic plans to further increase the value of services to the community, and its efforts to take Horowhenua from good to great.

Mayor Duffy said that over the past three years Council has built a culture of continuous improvement which provides an excellent platform to be further enhanced through the LGNZ Excellence Programme.

“We are excited by what the programme offers and the chance to share the results with our communities throughout the District,” he said.

The excellence programme will demonstrate and improve the value and services of councils by measuring qualitative and quantitative indicators across leadership, finance, service delivery and community engagement. LGNZ has selected 21 Foundation Councils to lead out the programme in 2016. Results will be published in 2017.

Through the programme participating councils will be assessed every three years, given a standard from A to C, and the results publicised. Councils will discuss results with communities and use the assessments to plan improvements.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule said the system was being set up to give communities a clear and independent picture of how well their council was performing in serving the community.

“This will provide for communities a thorough and trusted standard for council performance. They will now know that their council meets an A, B, or C standard,” he said.

“For councils this will help them improve to deliver top value for communities. They will now know how they perform in dozens of services, and where the community wants improvement.”

The excellence programme been developed in response to the 2015 New Zealand Local Government Survey, which showed there is an opportunity to lift and demonstrate the service and value councils deliver to their communities.

ENDS

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