Media release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

LGC assumptions raise credibility issue over amalgamation proposal

Figures used by the Local Government Commission in its amalgamation proposal to justify change have been slammed by Upper Hutt Mayor, Wayne Guppy as grossly inaccurate.

UPPER HUTT, Wellington NZ, 04 FEB 2015—As Upper Hutt City Council prepares its submission to the Local Government Commission (LGC) regarding the proposal to merge the Wellington region’s nine councils into one, several issues have come to light regarding claims made by the LGC. The LGC’s rationale for sharing debt and rates across the region in its argument for change has been built on top of these claims, but the claims themselves are factually incorrect.

“The Commission’s proposal attempts to rationalise the huge regional debt Upper Hutt ratepayers would take on in an amalgamation scenario by implying that we’ve not maintained our assets to an adequate standard, and that the maintenance bill is beyond the means of councils like Upper Hutt,” says Upper Hutt Mayor, Wayne Guppy. “This is an outrageous claim based on completely inaccurate data.”

The LGC proposal claims that 70% of Upper Hutt’s wastewater pipes are in poor or very poor condition and therefore in need of replacement.

“We know exactly what state our underground assets are in,” says Upper Hutt Mayor, Wayne Guppy. “They are regularly assessed via CCTV monitoring. The truth is that only 17% of our wastewater pipes will need replacement within the next ten years, and the total cost of this infrastructure maintenance is already budgeted for whilst maintaining the lowest rates per capita in the region.”

Additionally, the LGC proposal makes further erroneous claims using incorrect and exaggerated data for Upper Hutt’s water supply infrastructure and roading network. These claims are made in support of its position for change, but as the real data comes to light, this position has lost credibility. One of these additional claims is the assumption that 31% of Upper Hutt’s water supply pipes need replacing over the next 10 – 30 years when the actual figure is 15%.

“By rushing through data analysis and failing to assess ALL of the possible solutions thoroughly, the LGC has missed an opportunity to put forward a proposal that provides a greater degree of shared direction and purpose without undermining the unique character and interests of our communities,” says Mr Guppy.

“There are other options that could be explored to improve regional collaboration at a much lower cost. Spending $184 million dollars of ratepayer money and sacrificing our rights to self-determination is not the way to meet the current and future needs of our communities.”

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