Letter to the Editor
Wellington LIVE – One Network
Dear Editor,
Hardly a resounding win for the Wellington City Council’s Long Term Plan, which succeeded today by only two votes – probably the closest in history.
Two things came out of the debate today:
Fancy footwork
Exploding debt
Fancy Footwork (but is it legal?)
Councillors Wi Neera, McNulty and Abdurahman wanted to move a amendment about the airport share sale. They were blocked by the Mayor and CEO and it was ruled out of order.
Why?
Because apparently the Governing Council was not able to overturn a decision made at a committee (subordinate to the council) the day before, through some little-known bureaucratic rule of the Council’s own making.
This now makes it clearer why the Mayor and Councillor Matthews (chair of the Long Term Plan committee) insisted that the final Long Term plan go before the committee yesterday when there was no need.
Undoubtedly more to come on this as it appears to be in breach of the law.
Exploding Debt (that the city can’t afford)
I moved an amendment for the Council to work on proposals to get its debt down to within its OWN self-imposed debt limits. This means reducing debt by around $200million. It was voted down by the Mayor and councillors Apanowicz, Brown, Foon Free, Matthews, O’Neill, Pannett, Rodgers.
So we have the Council agreeing to:
Increasing its operating expenditure next year by $90 million (10%)
Increasing its debt from $1.55 billion to $1.9 billion (20%)
Having more than $200 million debt than it should
Hardly a plan to instil confidence.
Diane Calvert is a Wellington City councillor for the Wharangi/Onslow-Western Ward.
SCOOP COMMENTS
Cr Calvert is often the smartest in the room. Quick to reply with her business acumen and assessment of the problems.
Diane would make a good mayoral candidate. Anyone else will need to pick up speed.
Keep on going Diane we are in dire straits. Vested interests and politics are winning currently.
Councillor Ray Chung, 27. June 2024, 20:41
Diane is too polite to have actually stated this but it seems to me that the reason why Whanau and Matthews put this vote to the LTP Committee yesterday is because they had the “safety margin” of the two unelected iwi reps, Liz Kelly and Holden Hohiria who can always be depended on to support Whanau. I’m not convinced that a subordinate committee can give binding decisions to the full council who are comprised of all elected members so will be looking into this.
Steve@N, 27. June 2024, 20:58
Managed to watch the meeting today, and I don’t get why the sensible amendment put forward by Cr Calvert was voted down. As for the fancy footwork, arguably the only ones who don’t look like dicks (to pick up on some of the colourful language from the meeting) were those who were prepared to call out the LPT for what it is by voting no.
Meanwhile residents will bear the brunt of this nonsense for many years – such a sad day for what was once the coolest little capital in the world.
Maverick, 27. June 2024, 21:19
Their egos are writing cheques our bodies can’t cash.
Stephanie Hopkin, 27. June 2024, 21:42
Steve@N – I too watched the meeting. The overuling and refusal of amendments was appalling. I hope that people get out and vote come election day, and if all the left/green students decide that this green “progressive” council is what they need, then they can’t moan when rents go up because landlords need to cover the costs of the ridiculously high rates they will be paying.
Northland, 27. June 2024, 22:54
Wellington – the costliest little capital in the world. Nice little epithet for this Council summarizing their key achievement.
Alice, 27. June 2024, 23:59
Stephanie I’m not sure this is a green or leftie issue at heart. It’s about some people being in charge out of their depth, a lack of transparency, and councillors not given all the information they need to make decisions. Something is broken and it needs bold thinking to get out of the mess and create a future-focused city where people of all stripes can thrive. We need leadership that values everyone’s place in the city. Sadly I keep observing people getting at each other – left vs right, cyclists vs drivers, and on and on. We’re all in this together, we all bring something valuable. Let’s work together and see each other’s sides. Why is everyone mad at cyclists when they’re not doing anything wrong but riding their bikes? It’s because the cycle lanes are poorly designed no one is happy! If they were done properly we’d all coexist without complaint. Parks are removed but no viable replacement options are there. This is poor council decision-making, not the little people trying to live their lives and not green voters. The increase to rates in the LTP really hurts. What an astonishing increase. We will all hurt from it – left and right alike.
Hel, 28. June 2024, 2:52
The LTP was a screw up predicated on the sale of the airport shares. The CEO and Mayor would do anything to get it approved as the alternative was to expose a shambles. This LTP does not prioritise investment in core infrastructure, it imposes and signals unsustainable rates increases, it continues the folly of more debt-funded investment in cycleways, social housing and climate change. There is no evidence that the Council has adopted a strong emphasis on managing its costs. The CEO thought water reform would solve the Council’s issues and has been caught naked as the tide went out on 3 waters.
Stephanie Hopkin, 28. June 2024, 8:47
Alice, agreed. We will all hurt from this rates.
Diane Calvert
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