Tuesday 5 May 2009 - Issue 69

Letter To Manukau 

Sunline

Last week saw the passing of Sunline, an extraordinary racehorse who was part of the McKee stable in Takanini.
Her passing made me think about my love of horses which I admit I picked up from my Dad.  He was born and raised in Pukekohe and grew up in the times of Phar Lap, another legend who was sometimes more famous than the All Blacks of the day. I remember attending Auckland Cup Day at Ellerslie, watching the likes of Tempo winning two Auckland Cups, and the brilliance of La Mer.  Those were memorable occasions.

I remember going down to the training tracks on numerous occasions to watch Sunline train. 

She was an absolute athlete - graceful and a fighter as all great champions so often are. She never gave up. Her two Cox Plate victories, for a horse that was not a 'star' will always rate up there with the best.  I was raised in a household where horse racing was as popular as rugby.  

Sunline was one of this area's finest and we will miss her.

Water and Wastewater Management

As we go through this Super City debate, there have never been truer words spoken than "The devil is in the detail."

In all my years in council, some of the most intense debates - outside user charges for pools - related to our water and wastewater management and structures. 

One of the earliest debates I recall was to do with a proposal to establish a local authority trading enterprise for our water business, which would basically set our water into a stand-alone company.

This proposal gave rise to massive debate in our community, and resulted in thousands of submissions into our annual plan, including 5000 from Manurewa alone after a concerted campaign by former councillors Alan Johnson and Fred Anderson. 

On the night of that debate, the chamber, the gallery and downstairs were packed with people there to protest the proposal. 

Their great concern and worry was that the move might lead to privatisation of our water business and see a rise in our water rates. Needless to say, council took the advice of the community and the proposal was dumped.

The government has achieved quite a feat, through the detail of the Super City proposal, by moving our water business into one structure under Watercare.

What this means is it could change the policy relating to the pricing of water and billing.

In Manukau, we currently bill water based on a fixed charge for residents and fixed part volumetric charge for commercial users. Other parts of the region bill differently.

Watercare has a different preference for how water should be charged.

Manukau has the lowest water rates in the region, so it is highly likely that prices will go up.  Much will depend on the type of governance control that the new mayor and council will take into the new organisation.

Our submission through this process is that we should split all of the Auckland council's retail units from Watercare so there is one provider for retail and one for wholesale to ensure some degree of check and balance on Watercare, and on the forward development of our water and wastewater.  After all, this is the most crucial infrastructure we provide in our region, and in local government. 

So far, our voices have not been heard.  If they are not heard through this process of establishment, they may well be heard after this council is in place.

Have a good week.

Len Brown

Mayor of Manukau

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