Steven Gaskell: What a day will be like under Maori Council Wards

Local Council Area – Year 2027 And Beyond.

7:30am – Rates Bill Arrives
You open your email and see your quarterly rates have gone up another 14%. The notice lists “cultural consultation services” and “partnership initiatives” as key budget pressures. You sigh and wonder why your driveway is still full of potholes.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Councils forced the Govt to bring out the big stick

Even people who think councils do a fantastic job must by now understand why the Government is going to have to pass law to get councils to focus on doing their jobs. 

It has been clear to councils for about four months now that the Government wanted them to drop the distractions and just do their work. 

Yet, councils just can’t help themselves.

Mike Hosking: Local government ineptitude has left the country broken

 

Let’s Get Wellington Moving might be the biggest oxymoron of the recent age.

A six and a half billion dollar dream that is in tatters, confirmed by the obligatory review that tells us such, as a result of the report out Friday everyone is now freaking out.

How is it this country, through local government ineptitude, has become so broken?

Gerry Eckhoff: AIR BnB

A former Prime Minister of England once observed that getting a good outcome from a new tax is a lot like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by the handle. 

The current debate over whether Air BnB homeowners should be regarded as commercial players in the tourism industry and rated accordingly highlights some interesting issues and wonderful euphemisms. “A level playing field” is demanded by commercial operators who seek to eliminate the so called unfair advantage of the poor old house holder who seeks to utilize a spare bedroom in their biggest asset. 

Level playing fields don’t exist despite the plaintive cry from those who already are bigger, stronger, faster, wealthier but who really want the field to themselves. We are asked to forget that size and scale matters and that purchasing power by major players in the accommodation industry really does give them significant advantage. The hotel and motel chains however cannot trump the personalized single unit home stay available for travellers looking for the real Kiwi people and experience, not to mention individualized interaction and service.

Frank Newman: Council derivatives

Derivatives are the sort of things you generally only come across in movies about wheelers and dealers in far-away places like New York and London - but they have a relevance much closer to home.  You may be surprised to learn that the Whangarei District Council (WDC) has $244.5 million worth of interest rate derivatives. A council staff member has confirmed ratepayers are exposed to valuation movements on the full amount. That's a lot of money at risk, and raises many questions - but more on that later.

Derivatives are complex, but here's a simple run down on the basics, as I understand they relate to the WDC. A derivative is a generic term applied to a financial arrangement that derives its value from another market. These arrangements take many forms (futures, options, swaps), and very smart individuals sitting in high rise office towers around the globe keep coming up with new variations so they can enrich themselves by creating a new market and clipping the ticket on the deals that are done.

Frank Newman: Council Matters - Notable Trees and a Careful Deconstruction

Notable Trees

The WDC is currently going through what it calls a pre-consultation stage of a plan change regarding the management of protected trees in the district. They say, "Pre-consultation represents a great opportunity for you or your organisation to make a meaningful contribution in formulating provisions that work for everyone involved”.

By way of preamble, the policy states, "Trees provide a significant contribution to the amenity, historical, ecological and cultural values of the District. This is particularly so in urban areas where the ongoing demand for land development can threaten the existence of established trees…Individual trees and groups of trees that are considered to be among the most significant trees…are scheduled in this chapter in order to protect the benefits they provide for current and future generations."