Napier Mayor Bill Dalton.
Merging Hawke’s Bay’s five councils is not the right approach for
the region nor will it result in cost savings as purported by pro-amalgamation
lobby groups, says Napier Mayor Bill Dalton.
The Local Government Commission announced
this morning a draft proposal to merge the region’s four councils along with
the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to create a single authority for the entire
region.
“I’ve had no faith in the way the process has
been carried out so far, and that lack of faith continues with this
announcement,” Mayor Dalton said. “Sadly the Commission has chosen to rely too
heavily on the Winder report which has been widely discredited.”
Amalgamation would have a negative impact on
the region, which would include job losses.
“Regardless of whether the administration
centre goes to Napier or Hastings, there will be massive job losses.
Surrounding businesses will suffer and I’m sure many will be forced to close
their doors. Amalgamation is not the right decision for Hawke’s Bay, it’s as
simple as that.”
Mayor Dalton’s concerns are backed up by an
independent report by Local Government Reform expert, Professor Brian Dollery,
of the University of New England.
In the report, Professor Dollery says forced amalgamations rarely
improve efficiency and examples from council mergers in Australia and New
Zealand found cost savings were “almost never realized,” said Dollery.
The Local Government Commission’s recent
proposal for the reorganisation of Northland has shown it approaches the issue
of amalgamation from an ‘evidence-free’ perspective.
“Given the pivotal importance of local
government reorganisation and the need to prevent expensive and divisive
errors, it is vital that reorganisation proposals are based on extensive
econometric modeling and the best available empirical evidence,” Dollery
states.
He suggested a shared services arrangement be
considered as an alternative to amalgamation in Hawke’s Bay.
Well said Bill
ReplyDelete