Mackenzie District mayor backs slow down on three waters reform
As published in the Timaru Herald, 31 August 2021
Mackenzie mayor Graham Smith has four bottom lines when it comes to the Government’s proposed water reforms.
Smith has stated he is not opposed to the reforms, though he has concerns about some of the figures used in the Three Waters report and about the speed of the process.
His main concerns are ensuring community consultation and measuring the reforms against those baselines.
“MDC (Mackenzie District Council) set some important baselines around mechanisms for local representation and voice, the impact on the viability of smaller councils, pricing equity and the implications of any transfer of ownership of assets,” he told The Timaru Herald.
He “agreed with Government that the present system is not working”, but warned, “the issue is the provision of good resilient infrastructure to deliver safe drinking water while keeping costs affordable and debt manageable is difficult, especially for small councils”.
“You can’t argue that we don’t want better water quality, and a Rolls Royce water scheme for New Zealand is a great thing to aspire to.”
But Smith notes Mackenzie’s situation is different from some councils who may be carrying heavy debt or require large investment to upgrade ageing water systems.
“In Mackenzie, there is no debt to take over.”
On August 23, the Canterbury Mayoral Forum – 10 mayors (including Smith) and the chair of Environment Canterbury – asked local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta to pause the Three Waters reform process.
The region’s mayors said they have “serious concerns” about the timeframe of the reforms, which would see control of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure shift from 67 councils nationwide to four new independent entities.
Almost all South Island local government areas (except for Marlborough and Tasman) would be merged into one, known as entity D.
Mahuta , has accused the group of playing political games.
“Small rural councils ... stand to benefit the most from these reforms and it’s been disappointing to see mayors who have been asked to engage in the process playing political games with their communities’ futures,’’ Mahuta said.
But Smith said he feels the whole process is “travelling too fast”.
“We don't have a good enough understanding of it. Our communities don’t have a good enough understanding of it. We are not confident we are going to be in a position to make a call by the end of September.
“As far as I’m concerned, the infrastructure belongs to the community, so we have to consult with our communities.
“There’s no need for this time pressure, no need to race the whole reform through without fully understanding it.”
Smith is also concerned at the number of staff and potential revenue some councils stand to lose.
“A lot of staff in smaller councils do more than one job, for example some of our engineers do both roading and water.
“The council has done a bit of modelling since the first announcement, and we’re not sure about some of the assumptions [in the Three Waters report], and that’s what it’s all based on.”
Under the proposed reforms, control of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure would be centralised, in part to create efficiencies of scale.
But, said Smith, “on the bigger picture, bigger isn’t always better, and government handling of public entities in generals has been dismal in the past, just look at the railways and post office and things.
Smith said the whole proposition “relies on scale. I don't believe councils can be half in and half out.”
Until the Minister “can assure us that it's for the betterment of our community, we’re not prepared to sign up”.
Smith said this may leave the Government forced to mandate participation, which he warns would “use a lot of political capital”
Consultation has concluded
