In 1995 I was a Masterton District Councillor and we discussed whether or not it might be feasible for our council to take over the role of the regional council. There were two reasons for this brain fade. Councillors always love more power and we considered that we had enough expertise within our ranks to discharge the role that the men and women in the red brick building down the road were fulfilling.
But the second reason was more compelling. We were the collection agent for the Regional Council rates. These were separately itemised on the invoices we sent out, but most people just look at the bottom line of their rates demand and we were getting the blame for the regional council rates as well as our own.
So we sent our chief executive Bill Flannery down to the regional council to size up the situation. He came back with some sobering news. The Wairarapa manager of the Wellington Regional Council, Colin Wright, told him that his council collected $4 million annually in rates, but spent $9 million back in the Wairarapa.
“Best to leave well alone.” was Mr Flannery’s wise counsel.
That was nearly twenty years ago. It’s easy to imagine then that the gap between income and expenditure has increased to the $11 million the Greater Wellington Regional Council now calculates.
I stepped down from the district council in 1998 and was elected on to the regional council where I served three terms. I saw first-hand the generosity of the council towards the Wairarapa. A few weeks after I joined the regional council we had a devastating one-in-one-hundred year flood when the Ruamahunga River nearly overtopped the sewerage settling ponds at Homebush. The flood protection regime put in place following that event cost the regional council millions. Apart from the myriad of other roles they play, they have bought us, and are still paying for, a brand new trainset and have provided a subsidised suburban and inter-urban bus service for our district.
In a nutshell, we have been spoilt rotten.
The government is encouraging change. But then they always do. They are like our 1995 district council - only more ambitious. The Local Government Minister has said however that the status quo is an option.
So why isn’t the Wairarapa united behind that option?
Let’s examine the alternative. A combined Wairarapa council, also taking on the regional council roles sounds quite exciting, but is it really. How would this work out?
Who for instance will lead us? If the three current mayors throw their hats into the ring I have a sneaking suspicion that genial Carterton mayor Ron Mark would romp home. He is universally admired, has a high national profile, is articulate and has an ethnicity factor that has always appealed to the Wairarapa constituency. Think Ben Couch and Georgina Beyer.
I have no problem with that, but the next step may be a hurdle for some. Neither Carterton nor the South Wairarapa will want to be ruled from Masterton. Local government will need to be centralised on Carterton and I have no doubt Carterton is geared for this. The sparkling new “Holloway Boulevard” and the award-winning Events Centre will become the new centre of the universe for the Wairarapa. David Borman’s splendid new town square may end up sitting in front of an empty town hall building. Masterton will simply need an office to collect rates and give out dog collars and there is probably spare space in the library for these activities.
But Masterton has spent a small fortune, no; make that large fortune, on infrastructure projects over the last few years. Most of the towns roads have been dug up to replace water and wastewater pipes and many of our streets have new kerbs and newly hot-mixed footpaths. The multi-million dollar sewerage scheme is about to be commissioned and Riversdale has its toilets all connected and up and flushing.
How will its citizens feel if they find they now have to contribute towards the same exercise well overdue in the other districts in the Wairarapa?
Personally I like the super-city option, but most people are sceptical. I gather the two Hutt’s don’t want a bar of it, Kapiti is suspicious and only Porirua is keen to bite the bullet.
It may be forced upon us of course; The Local Government Commission will have the final say.
In my view then the best option for us may well be the status quo. Perhaps we should all take our regional council subsidised train to Wellington and say so.
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