Let’s reimagine the future of urban life — one city, one community, one happy place at a time. . . . → Read More: Let’s reimagine the future of urban life — one city, one community, one happy place at a time.
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 Comments are closed  Election 25, Video  council reform, Happy Cities, Video, Wellbeing, Whakatāne Election 2025, whakatane v wellington Source Thomas Manch PDF The Government has passed the final pieces of legislation required for its Local Water Done Well water reforms into law. Both the Local Government (Water Services) Bill, and a separate repeals and amendments bill for this legislation, were passed on Tuesday afternoon, cementing into law a water reform programme years . . . → Read More: Article: Government passes its water reforms into law Comments are closed Election 25, From The Press, News Clippings, Three Waters 3 waters, LWDW, unaffordability Source The nomination period has ended. A big mihi/acknowledgement to all our candidates who have stepped up to stand for Whakatāne District council – it takes heart to put yourself forward for your community. See who is standing for Whakatāne District – below are the candidates in the running to lead where they live. Important . . . → Read More: Candidate List – Whakatāne District Council – 2025 Many councils will be delivering water services “in-house”, also limiting their debt-borrowing capacity. Already the Department of Internal Affairs has sent letters to six councils asking they reconsider going it alone, and join with their neighbours. But with the September 3 deadline approaching, the Government may instead be reaching for the stick. Local Government Minister Simon Watts can appoint Crown facilitators or specialists to push councils towards forging regional entities. This may mean the Government finds itself, to some degree, in the position Labour was — effectively compelling councils to work with their neighbours. And it would be doing so after letting councils determine their own fate and, in a case like Stratford District Council in Taranaki, acting on the views of their constituents. Essentially, the Government would be riding roughshod over local opinion. . . . → Read More: Article: The Government’s water reforms may not be going to plan Wellington City Council did support several parts of the bill, such as measuring council performance, strengthening transparency and accountability and providing regulatory relief. Core services have been defined in the bill as network infrastructure, public transport services, waste management, civil defence emergency management, libraries, museums, reserves, and other recreational facilities. While museums were listed as a core service, festivals, live performances, stadiums, concert halls and large theatres were not. The submission points to the economic benefit of events such as the council-supported World of WearableArt show, which contributed more than $31 million to the city last year. . . . → Read More: Article: Wellington City Council pushes back on Government’s ‘back to basics’ bill Comments are closed Election 25, From The Press, News Clippings affordability, council reform, disagreements, LGNZ, rates, whakatane v wellington Mayors and chairs commented to the survey “that a share of the GST revenue generated in their districts should be returned to local government”, saying GST was the “clear favourite” revenue stream of people surveyed. Southland Mayor Gary Tong told the survey Treasury should “actively look at” the amount of road user charges and GST paid by people in his region, which was then spent in other parts of the country. Waipā District Council Mayor Jim Mylchreest said councils should get a “share of GST”, particularly the GST paid on council rates as well as a share of GST paid on the development of new sections. “LAs [local authorities] and developers provide all of the services and take all of the risks and Central Government pockets the GST on every new section created,” Mylchreest said. Act and National have recently floated similar ideas. National wants to at least explore the idea of councils getting the GST collected on rates, while Act has launched a policy to share half of the GST revenue earned from building a new house with whichever local council issued that house’s consent. . . . → Read More: Is Returning GST To Councils ‘Ultra Left Wing Spin’? Source Dave Stewart PDF Dave Stewart In response to Lenore Craig’s letter (Denying democratic rights, Beacon July 30),there is one glaring issue with this that seems to have been left out of this discussion. David Seymour proudly announcing his voter suppression measures has to be one of the most interesting exchanges of the current government’s . . . → Read More: Letter: National Party deeply divided Source The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has released its final list of candidates for the upcoming local body elections in October 2025. Governance Manager Steve Groom says he is pleased with the diversity and number of nominations received this year, noting that every regional council constituency will now hold an election. “We have . . . → Read More: Article: Bay of Plenty Regional Council Confirms Candidates for 2025 Local Elections “If you’re on the dormant roll, your record won’t show up on vote.nz, but you’ll be re-enrolled as soon as you fill in an enrolment form with your current address. “If you’ve got any concerns about your enrolment, please get in touch with our enrolment team on 0800 36 76 56 or enquiries@elections.govt.nz and they can check your enrolment.” . . . → Read More: Article: How to check your enrolment after concerns from voters In a statement yesterday, Local Government Minister Simon Watts said some households were getting frustrated by unfair rate hikes during the cost-of-living crisis. It followed comments at the recent Local Government NZ (LGNZ) conference, where Watts compared councils to children and suggested that letting them do what they wanted might lead to bad choices. Olds, who attended the conference, told his colleagues and LGNZ representatives that he was disappointed that councils continued to get “beaten up by central government” over things that were out of their control. Councils had defended rising rates as they were dealing with increased infrastructure costs, unfunded mandates, insurance, and inflation. LGNZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said tensions between local and central government were “a challenge”, and that councils bore the impact of frequent changes to government policy. . . . → Read More: Article: Councillors tired of being ‘beaten up’ and blamed by central government Comments are closed Election 25, From The Press, News Clippings, RNZ council reform, LGNZ, rates increases, whakatane v wellington |
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