Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

My friend lives in a tiny, uninsulated cottage in central Hamilton and pays about $200 rent for his room. I'm amazed I pay a lot less rent for an apartment close to NZ's most iconic beach – Mount Maunganui.

As the city grows, my generation will need to re-evaluate what's most important. We can't continue to stretch the size of the city, as it will come at a cost. It will cost our economy if we build houses on our productive rural land, as the primary sector will continue to be backbone of our economy. It will cost us in having to provide more infrastructure; for example, roads, pipes, reserves etc. It may also cost us our lifestyles if we follow Auckland's model of suburban sprawl, causing high traffic congestion. The relative ease of getting around our city is something we need to protect as our population grows.

Housing affordability will be a key issue for this year's government elections. However, I believe the government is sending out mixed messages to councils on this issue. One department wants us to control the city's debt and rate increases. Another department might force us to open up new land, which requires new infrastructure investment –meaning more roads, water, reserves etc.

There are no free lunches; so if government limits the development contributions to pay for the infrastructure required for the growth, then the ratepayer will more than likely have to pick up the tab.

Council is supporting housing affordability through SmartGrowth, by updating population projections from the latest Census, reviewing future settlement patterns; and a small contribution for planning papakainga housing.

The other part of housing affordability is improving household incomes. We're working with the regional council to grow tertiary education in the CBD, develop the marine precinct, and support Priority One's business attraction programme.

I wasn't at the committee meeting that lifted the financial delegations for the chief executive to $500,000, as I was at Harrison Mundy's very moving funeral. But we need to consider the chief executive's delegation in the context of improved financial and performance reporting. We've established a finance and risk committee to properly govern the council's financials. The delegations are small compared to our annual spend of about $170 million.

The delegations enable the chief executive to act immediately when necessary; for example, he may need to make urgent decisions in the city's best interests during a civil defence emergency, or legal proceedings.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice