Max Baxter. Photo Suppli
Tauranga’s inadvertent fame as the first city in the country where councillors will be elected for four years instead of three, is being applauded by Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter, and Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ).
“Bring on the four-year term,” Max said.
“And I think it’s imperative that people settle in and get the job done. Obviously, there’s the good and the bad, but I think there’s more reward out of a four-year term than three, to be honest.”
He said a three-year term could be characterised as inducting newly elected members to get them to understand what their purpose was, then a year of work, followed by a year of posturing and decision making based around re-election.
“I would like to think in Ōtorohanga, there’s been very few decisions made around re-election.
“I think with the time I have been involved in council there’s been a very pragmatic direction and that’s been about serving our community in the best possible way,” Max said.
“I can’t say that for all councils because a lot of politics goes on, especially if there is an alignment with political parties – and that’s where it becomes very, very grey.
“Councils and councillors make decisions based on party policy, which is taking away the whole purpose of local government.”
A push for four-year council terms across the country is coming from LGNZ. Mayors from around the country endorsed four-year terms in December as part of a package of discussion points LGNZ will be taking further with central government this year.
Tauranga has been granted a four-year term by the commissioners that have ruled the city since December 2020.
An election of a new council and mayor will be held on July 20, which is out of step with the national cycle. The next local body elections will be held in October 2025.
The Tauranga council will remain until the 2028 local body elections.
Holding an election in Tauranga in October 2025 in line with the rest of the country would have required the election of two councils in 15 months, commission chair Anne Tolley said.
As part of its advancing localism campaign, LGNZ also wants to work with the government to develop a resolution service to prevent tough relationship or governance issues around the council table from escalating.
Localism for LGNZ means using local knowledge and power to solve community problems. Localism is the opposite of centralisation; it moves decisions and delivery closer to communities when that makes sense. Localism ensures communities get the right solution for their specific needs. For example, a transport solution in Tauranga won’t work for Te Kūiti.
“I’m a huge advocate of localism. If we can take away that centralisitic approach which has been going on for years and hasn’t served our country particularly well,” Max said.
“I’ve seen it, I’ve witnessed it firsthand in my mahi with Mayors’ Task Force for Jobs. I’ve had discussions with ministers and officials who have no idea what’s going on in the likes of Ōtorohanga.
“So, the more power we can bring back to council being the facilitator of local participation – then go for it.
“Again, it doesn’t necessarily mean councils delivering localism, it’s about enabling people in the community to deliver. You are going to get far better outcomes.”
Centalistic government controls were seen all the time in legislative change brought on by politicians and officials, more so officials in Wellington, he said.
“That serves our community no good whatsoever. All it does is just create another level of bureaucracy and cost to our communities.
“So, we are trying to fight inflation, we are trying to fight against rates increases. It’s incredibly challenging when most of our costs come through impediments that are placed on us through a centralistic government.
“I would say a huge percentage of our costs come about through legislative requirements. I imagine we would be able to drop our rates increases by a large margin if there weren’t the requirements placed on us that serve no real purpose.”
Those cost savings could be as simple as auditing fees; the costs of delivering an annual plan, a long-term plan, resource consent requirements.
“The list goes on, and it’s just absolutely crippling small communities and districts. I’ve seen (council) staff numbers grow purely through having to fulfill those requirements placed upon them. And it’s absolutely ridiculous.
“The other thing is it slows down progress. Councils get blamed for being slow in delivering, but if we could just do what’s needed in front of us, we would be incredibly more efficient.”
