Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

The news is not getting any better for council. A couple of weeks ago we found that the WBOP District Council had one of the highest debt-per-capita ratios in New Zealand. Now we are told the council has the lowest business satisfaction rating of 10 regions in New Zealand.

MYOB Business Management Solutions conducts a regular monitoring survey and has just announced an eight per cent drop of confidence in councils by small to medium business owners across the country. Bottom of this shameful list is the Bay of Plenty, with only six per cent satisfaction and 40 per cent dissatisfaction.

There is a general problem across the country, but the Bay seems to have the most difficulty with its obligation of supporting the economic needs and aspirations of its people.

MYOB general manager Julian Smith stated that 42 per cent of small to medium business owners believe their councils are failing them. Councils seem to be out of touch with the needs of business. Our local councils seem to be losing sight of the fact that successful cities, towns and regions must also be good places to do business, sustain local economies, attract employment and encourage private sector investment.

Council delays, regulation and compliance costs are a frequent source of frustration with the performance targets councils set themselves simply not meeting the standards of business.

There are three major stake holder groups for council to keep happy. Government regulation has to be implemented and ISO9000 quality control reports indicate that policies and procedures are in place. But the policies and procedures have to be implemented to support the social, cultural, economic and welfare needs of the people. Jobs come with a thriving confident business environment. As I indicated last week, people come to the Bay for the lifestyle, but they need jobs and business confidence to be able to stay. The news from MYOB is only confirming the SmartGrowth 2002 warning of the Bay economy ‘diverging downwards'.

We know there is a recession and our Psa problem is a major threat to our single product economy. The Priority One research on innovation in small towns, with a suggestion of a Plan B, is falling on deaf ears. Neither the district nor regional councils are supporting small business economies, especially those of the small towns.

Perhaps we are expecting too much, but the emphasis of the Regions Bay Connections is on macroeconomics and big business of the Bay at the expense of the small towns. This programme will have to either be modified or supplemented with a similar programme for small and medium business nodes.

I am following the mountain of reports that are available on Western Bay's planning as they lead towards their new Long Term Plan. The plan is already overloaded with deferred projects. I could find nothing that would come anywhere near addressing problems identified in the bad reports council has earned recently. Some of these might be addressed in the confidential workshop reports but, as council does not deal very well with bad news, I am not holding my breath.

The MYOB report stated that with dissatisfaction growing with councils around the country, perhaps it is time to take a good look at the role of our local authorities and see what can be done to get them working better for business.

The report didn't suggest who would be taking a closer look. I know that government is thinking of change already. When government moves, it might be better for council to at least have admitted to their problems and have programmes on the way. Scoping documents and strategies are not much help. Business is demanding action now.