Mayor's Desk

Challenges are surmountable

Council and I are excited to welcome long term council senior manager john Pevreal to the position of chief executive. John has extensive experience of all aspects of the Otorohanga district, and will offer a continuation of the stable, commonsense governance and local perspective to our management of the district.
Otorohanga District Council recently held its LTCCP submission hearings to finalise the LTCCP and Annual Plan document for adoption.
In contrast to many other councils, we received less than 20 submissions in total and were required to hear just 10. I would like to think the low numbers of submissions were a reflection of public confidence in council's performance - while I believe that to be the case for the most part, it is probable the final document became so complex that very few read it!
Unfortunately, while the concept of community plans and outcomes is commendable and for council very helpful, the Act requires audit approval which involves significant bureaucratic consideration.
The result unfortunately is a document that is less user friendly than ideal.
I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge mayor Mark Ammon of Waitomo District Council in his endeavours to address the council's projected debt liability. Generally protocol suggests that fellow mayors do not become publicly involved in each other's issues, but I believe it is important for readers to appreciate that the challenges all councils face are similar.
Regardless of size, population or wealth, city, district and regional councils struggle to balance increasing compliance, regulatory and environmental costs with ratepayers' expectations of maintaining basic essential services while proactively encouraging growth.
Fed Farmers Charles Digby's comments last week that even Auckland City with significant resources at its disposal struggles to meet its own roading obligations, accurately reflect this.
I am conscious of what a high debt forecast could mean to the sustainability of a council, therefore I am carefully observing the issues being discussed with a significant degree of concern for any potential implication to the Otorohanga district.
While not easily resolved, a council's challenges are however not insurmountable.
With sufficient support the mayor and councillors can make appropriate improvements to improve the future financial outlook.