Super-City Submissions due Friday

Submissions on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill close this Friday, so to make sure that you get your in on time I suggest sending it off by tomorrow at the latest. According to the Parliament website:

The bill provides for the governance structure of the Auckland Council, including the high level framework (structure, functions, powers, duties and membership), and the powers and functions for the Local Government Commission to determine the boundaries of Auckland, the names and boundaries of the wards and local boards, the number of local boards and number of members, and to develop a reorganisation scheme for the division of the Franklin District, and its council, between the Auckland Council and the Waikato District Council. It also proposes amendments to two local government Acts to allow remuneration, allowances and expenses payable to be determined by the Remuneration Authority, and for the Auckland Transition Agency to approve a process for, and oversee, the planning and management of the integration of Auckland’s water supply and wastewater services by Watercare Services Limited.

It is actually surprisingly easy to make a submission on something like this, and you don’t have to go into an extreme level of detail if you don’t want to.

My submission has been finalised, and it is available to read here.

Essentially, I cover the following points:

1. The fundamental concept of an Auckland Council and 20-30 local boards (or community councils) is a good idea. It creates, in my opinion, a good balance between regional governance and local service provision.
2. There may be good reason for rural parts of Rodney District and Franklin District to be excluded from the Auckland Council, if the residents of these areas wish to do so.
3. The loss of the role that the Auckland Regional Council plays, particularly in growth management and environmental advocacy, is a concern and that role will need to be picked up somewhere by the new Council.
4. All councillors on the Auckland Council should be elected from wards. There should be no at-large councillors.
5. Ward boundaries should match local board boundaries. These should also match with electorate boundaries.
6. Maori seats should be provided for, in accordance with the number of people on the Maori electoral role (likely to be 2 seats).
7. There should be the assumption that a service/function is carried out by the local board, unless there is a good reason for the Auckland Council to carry out that service/function.
8. The services/functions carried out by the local boards should be enshrined in the legislation, not simply left to the Auckland Council to delegate.
9. The Auckland Council should be required to “give effect to” the priorities of the local boards, not merely “take them into account.”
10. Local boards should have dedicated staff and facilities.
11. The Auckland Council councillors for a local board area should be on that local board as well as the Council.
12. Local boards should have the ability to apply a targeted rate, and to set their own budgets within a funding cap set by the Auckland Council.
13. The mayor, the Auckland Council councillors and the Local Board members should all be voted for using the Single-Transferable Vote (STV) system.
14. Aucklanders should be given the opportunity to validate the final reorganisation proposal through a referendum. It would be simple choice between what is proposed and the current system. If people choose the current system then another vote should be held in the future after changes are made to the proposal.

I will look forward to presenting my submission in person, and I will not be happy if I get shafted into doing teleconferencing again.

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