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

Council has three major stakeholder groups to satisfy; the government, business and the people.

I have no authority to judge a council on behalf of the government or business, but reports are available that are reasonable indicators of the Bay of Plenty's relative performance.

Government requirements

The recession has hit all councils and the Local Government Act 2010 is requiring more transparency and a new form of reporting to the public. The WBOP District Council has actually reduced the number of meetings available to the public and there are no signs of the council complying with the government instruction.
The figures released by the government recently revealed WBOPDC had the fourth highest debt per capita in New Zealand.

The new Productivity Commission was formed to study the problems of this country's poor productivity relative to other countries. Though the remit was general, the commission was asked also to study housing affordability.
In some countries, an average house is twice the average income. New Zealand in 1990, this index was three times. Currently, Wellington is five times and Bay of Plenty is the dearest with an affordability index of 6.5.
The Families Commission has warned that there are not enough houses being built, which is exacerbating housing problems and quoted Bay of Plenty as being the worst case – forecasting severe problems by 2030. Their submissions to the Productivity Commission's survey are available on productivity.govt.nz and make disturbing reading.

Financial reporting is not transparent. The council is up to $150m in debt, has no cash and one estimate of council's internal borrowing is more than $100m. This money represents money shuffled as short term cover for an over ambitious schedule. If the schedule, currently up for discussion for the Long Term Plan, is not significantly pruned, this figure could lift the council debt to more than $250m.

Business requirements

Most of the news in the papers refers to businesses that have national implications, but the economic welfare of the residents and small businesses has not been addressed. These small businesses are the strength from which the economy will recover. It was disturbing to hear from the MYOB survey that our council has the lowest satisfaction rating from small to medium businesses in the country.
One submission to the Productivity Commission reported that Western Bay Council charges, including development contributions, compliance costs and delay, as the most expensive in the country. These charges are up to 47 per cent of the cost of a section and contribute significantly to the region's low affordability score.

Service industries like contractors have been without work for months and council has not got the message that restrictive policies on land development are the major cause of lack of business confidence for new development. The commission asked why investors were not investing in new residential developments. One answer quoted that it was not just the costs or the delay. It was the uncertainty that, while a project is being developed, the council staff appears with a new planning requirement with yet another associated cost.

I will report on some of the public feedback on council performance next week.