20 March 2012

South Island Alliance Working Towards LG Reforms Already

The Local Government Sector in the South Island is already advancing towards some of the aims of the recently announced Local Government Reforms said Tasman Mayor and Chair of the South Island Strategic Alliance Richard Kempthorne.

“As one of the members of the Alliance, along with the rest of the South Island councils, we have been busy identifying ways to manage cost of services and the demands on resources many of us face in delivering local public services.”

The Alliance represents a shared view of the need to manage Council responsibilities prudently and in partnership – a partnership that is also shared with Central Government and its agencies, such as New Zealand Transport Agency.

“As an Alliance we have already identified the key areas of transport, procurement, joint planningand water, amongst others, to form a focus for our immediate work. We are all in the midst of planning for the next ten years and this initiative will make a very real contribution to delivering core services more economically.”

“The Alliance members believe in the need for cost effective delivery and ensuring the benefits of what is delivered are balanced by the investment made by ratepayers.”

Mayor Kempthorne said that the Governments call for greater efficiencies is not unwelcome and the Mayors and Chairs of the South Island councils are keen to look at shared services as a means of introducing smarter ways of doing business which will benefit all ratepayers.

ENDS

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