Welcome to the 5th monthly e-Newsletter for CityWatch NZ
In May 2024 CityWatch NZ continued focusing on Hamilton City Council’s Long-Term Plan and the issues with Council’s finances. With massive rates increases planned, a protest was held outside the Hamilton City Council building on the 17th of May 2024. A follow-up protest is being planned before the Long-term Plan is finalised. That protest is scheduled for Thursday, 27th of June 2024, 11am -12:30pm at Civic Square in Garden Place. Issues related to camera surveillance have also been a focus this month.
The next few months will see another by-election in Hamilton for one of the Maaori Ward seats and Tauranga City will be holding a full council election after being run by government-appointed commissioners for three years.
This month former MP Peter Dunn made the case for commissioners to be appointed to run Wellington City Council.
Few would argue against Peter Dunn’s claims that Wellington City Council is dysfunctional. Peter Dunn describes a wide range of issues many of New Zealand’s city-dwellers would also recognise in their own cities. However, government-appointed commissioners may not address the underlying problems.
How much of that dysfunction is caused by council staff?
Does replacing elected councillors with commissioners address problems caused by a council’s executives and managers?
“The Wellington City Council has been dysfunctional for years, long before the current Mayor took office. However, the situation has worsened significantly during her tenure to the extent it is now almost impossible to see the current crop of Councillors being able to resolve the massive issues confronting the capital city…
…The appalling way the Wellington City Council does things was highlighted this week at a Council meeting discussing the city’s long-term plan. A local community leader – allocated a mere five minutes to make his submission on an issue of concern to his community – had the temerity to complain that the Mayor had been working on her phone the entire time he was making his submission. In response, the Councillor chairing the meeting, rebuked him for criticising the Mayor, terminated his presentation, and adjourned the meeting until he left.”
Peter Dunn, 23 May 2024 on honpfd.blogspot.com
Petition Updates
The “STOP HAMILTON CITY COUNCIL RATE INCREASES” petition has gathered over 1300 signatures and is still open. Share this petition link widely to support.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-hamilton-city-council-rate-increases
[If you are forwarding people the link to a change.org petition, let people know that they don’t need to pay anything to sign a petition. The change.org website often asks for a payment, though it is optional]
The “Stop the Massive Rates Increase in Upper Hutt City” petition appears to have been taken down from the change.org website.
According to an archived version it gained over 2,224 signatures.
Hamilton Long-Term Plan Consultation Updates
The verbal hearing phase of the Hamilton City Council Long-Term Plan consultation had around 200 people giving feedback in the Council Chamber this month.
CityWatch NZ is producing a list to highlight presentations which capture the major issues raised during those hearings. The first day’s list has already been posted with lists for day 2 and 3 of the hearings to be posted shortly.
Hamilton City Council Long-Term Plan Hearings: Day 1 Highlights
On the last day of the hearings the Mayor’s Office put out a press release thanking the public for their contribution to the hearings and stating that Council staff have been asked to find additional savings without running “our city into the ground”.
“I’m immensely grateful to the public for their invaluable ideas, and passion to make our city the best it can be…Times are very hard right now, with rising cost-of-living pressures for households, businesses, developers, community groups and even Councils. We are facing tough financial pressures and there is no easy solution. I wish there was…I have asked staff to look again to find savings from our capital programme. At the same time, we must continue to look after core infrastructure efficiently and cost effectively. I am clear that I want the city to thrive. We cannot run our city into the ground”
Mayor Paula Southgate, 24 May 2024, quoted in Mayor promises relook at the budget, in response to public feedback, Office of the Mayor of Hamilton.
After eleven days, press releases were published covering the responses from Hamilton City Council staff. One press release explains that of the $12.5 million in identified annual savings, the staff propose to cut almost $8 million from community-facing activities and only $2.5 million in potential savings from “Council’s back-office functions“.
Was it mainly “back-office“ managers and executives identifying what should be cut?
“Council staff have identified $12.5 million of annual savings across both community-facing and enabling (back-office) functions.
Of these, nearly $8 million are proposed savings from staff and consultant budgets that would mean reductions in the services Council delivers to the community, including:
-the removal of Council’s City Safe and road education teams
-closure of one suburban library and the Auaha Makerspace, and reductions to opening hours across the branches
-less frequent maintenance of garden areas and road landscapes
-less frequent upkeep of public areas (e.g. litter collection, footpath sweeping)
-reductions to city events and community development resourcing.”
Quoted from Hamilton City Council Press release, Potential reductions to Council services identified, 28 May 2024
The other press release mentions that deferring various items of capital spending would reduce the size of rates increase from +19.9% to +19.2% in the first year then from +15.5% to +14.5% in years 2, 3, 4, and 5. A slight change and individual rates bills are still projected to double before 2030.
“Following direction from Mayor Paula Southgate, Council staff have identified $136 million of deferrals to Council’s capital programme in the first five years of the Long-Term Plan to bring the rates increases down. The changes improve Council’s debt-to-revenue position and enable the rates increase to be reduced to 19.2% in in 2024/25, and 14.5% in the subsequent four years.”
Quoted from Hamilton City Council Press release, Millions moved from capital budget to reduce rates impact, 28 May 2024
According to the press release, Council staff are presenting other deferral options to be debated by Councillors in the 1st week of June. Those options include the following…
“adopting a ‘maintenance only’ approach to transport projects for three years
-reducing the renewals and compliance budget by $27.5 million in the next three years (or $5 million next year only)
-removing $10 million of funding for strategic land acquisition
-deferring nearly $75 million that would go towards a new wastewater treatment plant
-cancelling the School Link project.”
Quoted from Hamilton City Council Press release, Millions moved from capital budget to reduce rates impact, 28 May 2024
Email your Hamilton City Councillors if you have views on these slightly-revised rates increases; what Council is proposing to not fund; or the inability of Council staff to find larger savings elsewhere without major “service reductions”.
Email addresses for Hamilton City Councillors
A follow-up protest is being planned before the Long-Term Plan is finalised.
Protest outside Hamilton City Council on the 27th of June
Gather in Garden Place outside the Hamilton City Council building from 11am to 12:30pm on Thursday the 27th of June 2024. If you oppose rates increases and the massive debt, encourage others to join the protest. Bring extra signs and banners if you can prepare them over the next two weeks. Various local groups will bring their signs and banners.
Hamilton City Council’s Developer Contributions
For those with a keen interest in the issues Hamilton City Council has with developer contributions (DCs), pages 36 to 126 of the Open Agenda for the 4 June 2024 Council meeting covers that topic. Pages 95-96 provide the Key Findings of an Insight Economics Report on the effects of planned increases to developer contributions. It does not look promising for future housing supply or for future developer contribution revenue. Hamilton City Council has a “growth pays for growth“ philosophy.
What happens if that growth does not occur?
What happens if the developers are not paying their full development contributions?
Facial Recognition and Number Plate Recognition Cameras
CityWatch NZ has two recent posts on issues concerning surveillance and road pricing schemes.
The first post gives a perspective on the implications of facial recognition technology which is increasingly being used by both companies and governments.
The second post covers the history of automatic number plate recognition cameras and road pricing schemes in the Manchester, England. It is a case which demonstrates both the effectiveness of community opposition to these schemes and the changing narratives the authorities will use.
OPINION: Why You Should Fear Facial Recognition
What has been happening with number plate recognition cameras in Manchester, UK?
Council Finances
Continuing our focus on the financial situation faced by Hamilton City Council, we have posted documents supplied by Hamilton resident Colin Jones. This includes a letter sent to the previous Minister for Local Government in 2023 which outlines his serious concerns about Council finances (including issues around developer contributions).
Colin Jones on Hamilton City Council’s Long-Term Plan
We also covered an incident in the Council Chambers that was somewhat embellished by the Waikato Times (the local Stuff media entity). This incident draws attention to a deeper problem with local government in New Zealand; council staff are shielded from both criticism and effective accountability.
A misleading headline and Hamilton City Council’s sensitivity to the word “fudging”
Hamilton City Council Kirikiriroa Maaori Ward By-election 2024
Following the resignation of Councillor Melaina Huaki, Hamilton City Council is having another by-election in 2024.
RNZ chose to report on this development as part of their story which investigated the attendance record of Hamilton City Councillors.
“My decision to resign was not taken lightly. It has been a huge privilege to represent Kirikiriroa as one of our city’s first Maaori Ward councillors. I worked with staff to assess my options, but I need to prioritise my health at this time. This was the right thing to do for me, my whaanau and the city. I look forward to seeing who our Kirikiriroa Ward voters elect to take on this great responsibility.”
Kirikiriroa Maaori Ward Councillor Melaina Huaki, as quoted in a Hamilton City Council Press release, Hamilton City Councillor resignation to trigger by-election, 07 May 2024
For further details see the Hamilton City Council webpage
or the CityWatch NZ post which will cover the upcoming by-election…
Hamilton City Council Kirikiriroa Maaori Ward By-election 2024
Tauranga City Council Election 2024
After more than three years of local democracy being suspended to enable the rule of government-appointed commissioners, the City of Tauranga is being allowed a council election.
Candidate nominations closed on Friday 24 May 2024.
Voting Opens on 29 June 2024 and closes at Noon on Saturday 20 July 2024
With 15 Candidates for Mayor and dozens of candidates standing across nine different wards this is going to be a major local government election.
For further details see the Tauranga City Council webpage
https://www.tauranga.govt.nz/council/about-your-council/elections-2024
or the CityWatch NZ webpage Tauranga City Council Election 2024
If there is an upcoming local by-election or local politics event you think CityWatch NZ should be covering, email the details to contact@citywatchnz.org and we will see what we can do.
Consultations
This month there was a consultation open for just 5 days for a bill before parliament which on the topic of referendums for Maori wards on councils. That consultation has now closed.
If there is a central government consultation that you think is important to city issues, email the consultation details to contact@citywatchnz.org and we can post the links.
Upcoming Issues
Over the next few months CityWatch NZ will be focusing on the following issues…
The Impact of Hamilton City Council’s Developer Contribution Policies.
The Te Huia Train between Hamilton and Auckland.
Growing Council Debts and Other Issues with Council Finances.
City Council Surveillance Capabilities and the Push for Road Pricing Schemes (Congestion Charges and Similar).
Three Waters Reforms.
The Accuracy and Impacts of Climate Change Modelling.
We have opinion pieces arriving on many of these issues and more are welcome. CityWatch NZ is open to covering many different sides of these issues. If you are interested in volunteering an opinion piece or know of someone who could write a good opinion piece about these issues, email content@citywatchnz.org for more information.
The rest of this e-newsletter has information which was posted inprevious newsletters.
What can you do to help CityWatch NZ?
We need more groups added to our directories of Local Group Contact Details and Issue-based Group Contact Details.
If you know of a local group challenging or engaging with local government or a New Zealand-wide group focused on issues relevant to cities, send them a link to CityWatchNZ.org and ask them to email contact@citywatchnz.org. We will email them back with a template and ask their permission to add their group to the directory.
As the website grows, and especially if we look to creating regional sub-newsletters, we will need the help of volunteers and potentially contractors in the future. If you have an interest or background in editing or creating content and want to help CityWatchNZ grow, email contact@citywatchnz.org with a brief description of your skill set including whether you are interested in volunteer work and/or paid contractor work.
CityWatchNZ.org Website and Social Media
CityWatch NZ is running more active investigations on various issues and will be posting more articles to the website over the next three months.
A number of future explainer articles are being worked on to bring attention to the groups, agendas, policies, and terminology being used to reshape our cities.
We are planning to gradually add more regions to the website, especially those regions with active groups challenging their councils.
We hope to be posting some wins in 2024. We want CityWatch NZ to feature articles and case studies about communities who were successful in resisting or reversing the unwanted changes imposed upon them. These should be more than just brief ‘feel good’ stories and feature details on tactics and approaches which were effective so that people around New Zealand can learn from successful groups and campaigns.
It will be helpful if people share CityWatchNZ.org content on social media. Note that Twitter (X) may not like Substack links. If you have a request for features that would help with sharing content on social media or staying up-to-date with CityWatch NZ content, email your suggestions to feedback@citywatchnz.org and we will see what we can do.
The ‘What is to be Done’ Series of Opinion Pieces
CityWatch NZ is planning to post a series of ‘What is to be Done’ opinion pieces in 2024. The purpose of this series is to share a wide range of ideas to facilitate solving problems with local government and urban development in New Zealand. Given the many issues facing local government, reforms will be needed in the near future. We at CityWatch NZ consider it important that well-informed discussions about the underlying problems and any proposed reforms take place in a public forum.
If you are interested in volunteering an opinion piece or know of someone who could write a good opinion piece about these issues, email content@citywatchnz.org for more information.
Substack e-Newsletter
At this stage, the plan is to keep the e-Newsletters freely available without needing a paid Substack subscription.
We are emailing a monthly e-Newsletter summarising our website content on Substack. We are open to feedback and suggestions to improve the newsletter.
We are also planning to create a feature on this Substack, where people can subscribe to a ‘sub-Substack’ email list for a version of the newsletters focused on a specific region or city.
Aside from the monthly e-Newsletters, the Substack email list will be used for informing subscribers of time-critical issues. We will endeavour to only send these ‘urgent’ emails sparingly, However, projects being rushed-through with minimal consultation is a quite normal when dealing with local government. This means that rapid responses may be needed on a variety of issues.
The Substack platform also has other features such as polls which could be useful in the future for surveying our readers. We plan to trial some of these features in 2024.