Select Committee Told Local Government Needs More Constraint

The Local Government Act Amendment Bill, designed to better focus local government activities, is a step in the right direction but does not go far enough according to the Local Government Forum which presented its submission on the Bill today.

Forum spokesman Charles Finny told the Select Committee considering the Bill that while its aim of focussing local government on core activities is supported there were better ways to achieve this.

“We support the thrust of the Bill, which aims to achieve more focus, but we do not think it goes far enough in doing so. We think that councils should be particularly focused on public goods and we provided committee members with a hierarchy of public and private goods, reproduced below,” said Mr Finny.

“We strongly support measures to improve the transparency, accountability and financial management of local government. The size of the sector and the essential role it plays mean this is crucial.

“Council spending and rate increases have excessively exceeded the inflation rate in recent years as the scope of council activities have spread beyond core business.

“The Bill’s objectives of getting councils to focus on core activities, to get them operating within a defined fiscal envelope, and of improving transparency and accountability are all a step in the right direction, but we think they need to go further if the Bill is to have a significant impact on council activity and therefore spending and rates.

“The Local Government Act Amendment Bill is an opportunity for restraint and prudence to be locked-in,” Mr Finny concluded.

For more information contact Charles Finny on 027 544 1547

Click here to access the Forum’s submission.

Go to http://www.localgovtforum.org.nz/ for information on the Local Government Forum

ENDS

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