Latest news with #council partnership
RNZ News
15-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Three southern councils still plan to team up to deliver water services
Central Otago, Clutha and Gore District councils have reaffirmed their support for the partnership and agreed to join it in principle. Photo: RNZ Three southern councils still plan to team up to deliver water services despite an expected fourth backing out last week. Councils have to submit water service delivery plans to the Department of Internal Affairs by early September. Four southern councils have worked towards a jointly owned, council-controlled organisation - the Southern Water Done Well model, but last week, the Waitaki District Council voted to exit the partnership and manage its services in-house for at least two years. It left the remaining councils trying to work out if the model - which aims to share expertise, save costs and improve service delivery by working together - would work with fewer councils onboard. Within days of Waitaki's decision, Central Otago and Clutha district councils agreed to join in principle. On Monday, the Gore District Council followed suit, voting to join the three-council model if the updated figures stack up. Gore District Mayor Ben Bell said the community could not afford the estimated $500 million bill to invest in projected infrastructure over the next 30 years. "In this instance, bigger is better in terms of economies of scale and financial sustainability," Bell said. "By working with like-minded councils, we can provide a water services delivery model that balances regional efficiency with local accountability." The future of water service delivery was intergenerational, he said. Central Otago District Mayor and Southern Water Done Well chair, Tamah Alley, said that councils knew they were stronger together and could deliver better long-term outcomes for their communities. It was a testament to the significant amount of work done to ensure councillors and communities had what they needed to make informed decisions, she said. "There's still work to be done, though, to understand what a group of three councils looks like and get a compliant Water Services Delivery Plan submitted by the deadline," she said. The plans need to show how council will deliver water services that meet new quality and infrastructure standards and are financially sustainable long term. They will then be assessed with councils possibly facing intervention if they do not meet the brief. Local Government Minister Simon Watts has made it clear to the southern councils in a letter that there would be no time extension to submit a plan.
RNZ News
10-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Southern councils suffer setback in partnership plan to deliver water services
Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan would have preferred not to vote for any of the available options. Photo: supplied The Clutha District Council is on track to partner with local councils to deliver water services - if updated figures still stack up - despite one backing out. Councils have until early September to submit plans to the Department of Internal Affairs for delivering water services. Four southern councils have worked towards a jointly owned, council-controlled organisation - the Southern Water Done Well model. On Tuesday, the Waitaki District Council did a surprise u-turn, leaving the partnership and instead opting to manage its services inhouse for at least two years. The remaining district councils - Gore, Central Otago and Clutha - have scrambled to work out what they would do, with all of them due to adopt their new water services delivery model within seven days of Waitaki's vote. On Thursday, the Clutha District Council received quick modelling that suggested the councils involved would still garner reasonable savings by remaining with the partnership, but more detailed analysis was warranted. Councillors faced two main options during their meeting: They voted to stick with the partnership model, but the result was far from unanimous, and many voiced their reluctance, disappointment and frustrations with the process, the options and the short timeframe. Others raised concerns about losing local control or voice over its water services, no longer having economy of scale now Waitaki had backed out or going against public opinion. Almost 400 submissions were received, when the council went out for consultation, with more than three quarters supporting an inhouse approach. Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan said he would have preferred not to vote for any of the options on the table, as none of them provided the relief he wanted for ratepayers. "There is no 'El Dorado' here," he said. "We're picking the best of some bad options. "I've not only been frustrated, I have been sickened by the structure and the obscene timeframes that we've been shackled to. These are the cards we have been dealt." New water rules had heaped pressure on them in recent years, particularly the number of rural water schemes that were now subject to drinking-water standards, Cadogan said. "In five years, this beautiful council of ours has been dragged... unmercifully to about $100 million of debt and ungodly rate rises. "That is the inhouse scenario. without the slight shielding umbrella that a [council-controlled organisation] gives and some of you say you want more of that. We can't take more." Chief executive Steve Hill said the updated modelling suggested that councils could still save money and ratepayers would likely be financially better off, if they stayed with the partnership, but he acknowledged the savings would be lower with the Waitaki District Council's exit and more work was needed for more detailed figures. The Department of Internal Affairs told councillors that its initial assessment suggested shifting to a three council collaboration was "likely to be OK", based on the work the councils had already done, but it could not give the same level of assurance or confidence, if they chose an inhouse model. Council would be assessed on the plan received in September and councils could face intervention, if they did not submit a financially sustainable, longer-term plan, the department said. If a Crown specialist was put in place, the council would lose control over its own destiny to deliver water services and would face more scrutiny over its finances, as the specialist would look at different funding avenues to develop a sustainable plan. The aim is to have the updated analysis on the advantages and disadvantages of the jointly owned company ready for a Clutha District Council meeting early next month. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
