Perfecting the balancing act

Who would want the job of a mayor, chair or councillor at the moment?  We have to look ahead, forecast our projects, income and expenditure for the next ten years, meet our community's priorities and maintain rates at affordable levels.

 

It is a very difficult job, made harder this year by the recession. I congratulate all councils for their excellent work on the draft ten-year plans. There will be some difficult decisions at council tables this month as the plans are finalised.

 

Councils have to balance many different ambitions:

  • the need to keep rates affordable while income from other sources, particularly interest income, has fallen dramatically
  • the need to keep rates affordable when communities have higher expectations for council funding as other sources of funding have dried up
  • the need to keep rates affordable when communities may not have an appetite for council borrowing more to fund big projects
  • the need to keep rates affordable while maintaining local infrastructure, stimulating local economies, and beginning major long-term infrastructure projects
  • the need to buy things which have increased in price more than inflation while under pressure not to increase rates by more than the cost of inflation.

So far the figures show us that, on average across the country, each household still only pays its council about the equivalent of a cup of coffee per day for all the services it receives. That's pretty good value for money.

 

Our elected members and their councils are dedicated to making the hard decisions and being courageous for their communities.  As private citizens we have views about our community and what it should look like, and these views may be different to our next door neighbour's. It takes dedicated and disciplined people to balance these views and lead a co-ordinated vision for a particular community and deliver on social, cultural, economic and environmental outcomes.

 

Next time you see your council's decisions, spare a thought for those who lead your community and for what you get for your money.

 

Lawrence Yule

President

Local Government New Zealand