Local government’s purpose needs to endure rather than flip-flop with every government, according to Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ).

This follows the introduction of the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill to Parliament yesterday, which is part of Government’s System Improvements programme to reform local government.

LGNZ President Sam Broughton says it is frustrating to see each successive government change local government’s purpose every few years, especially when councils’ main focus remains delivering critical services to their communities.

“This tug of war wastes time and energy that local government could invest in delivery. The fundamental challenge that councils face is not their purpose, but their lack of funding and financing tools,” says Sam Broughton.

“New funding tools for councils are about sharing the costs more fairly between local and central government, rather than just giving councils more money.

“We need to move past the political sound bites and focus on better partnership to deliver the right outcomes. The wider issue is the need to ensure the right levers are in place for councils."

Sam Broughton says that LGNZ welcomes the elements of the Bill that take a commonsense approach.

“We welcome the proposal that councils should have a standard set of standing orders. This just makes sense and will increase consistency around the country.

“We also support introducing councils’ ability to able to extend Chief Executive contracts for another five years without advertising.

“However, there are issues in the Bill that need to be ironed out through the select committee process. That includes that ‘core services’ don’t adequately describe regional council functions, missing out things like flood management and biosecurity.

“At our SuperLocal conference in Christchurch this week, we will release research that shows councils already prioritise ‘core’ work.”

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