Waitakere City Council has gone to its ratepayers with a message about loss of identity, as the National government continues to push its plan for a single council for Auckland..

In its newspaper Waitakere News the city council has delivered an emotional message saying the Government is "taking the local out of local government and is putting too much power in the hands of too few".

"Waitakere City has taken 20 years to build, but in the space of just a few days the Government's plan for a super city in Auckland looks to have stripped the West of its hard-fought identity.

The Waitakere council has told its ratepayers the Government's decision is "quite different" to what the Royal Commission had recommended following its 18-month investigation, which drew 3500 submissions and cost $3.5 million.

Mayor Bob Harvey believes all the cash from the Auckland region will be funnelled into the new super-council, "and we will be begging for scraps from the table.

"Residents in outlying areas will subsidise grandiose schemes like the waterfront development. Newmarket will be paved with gold - but how far down the list do you think places like Te Atatu and Glenfield will be?" he says.

Meanwhile, Local Government Minister Rodney Hide is calling for New Zealanders to contribute their views on the future of Auckland governance through select committee hearings to be held in Auckland over the next few months.

“I know Aucklanders are passionate about their local communities and their region and we want to hear their views,” Mr Hide said after a Cabinet meeting to decide the legislative programme for the Government’s proposed structure of Auckland local government.

Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says the councils is one of the largest employers and contributors to the Waitakere economy, and its demise will have a major impact on local businesses and commuity groups that rely on council support and funding.

The Government's plan for 20 to 30 local boards to be subject to the planned single council has not pleased  Waitakere City.

The council newspaper says the boards will be unable to raise their own revenue or hire staff.
If a community wants extra services, the Auckland Council will have to approve a targeted rate rise for that area.

"Local councils will be reduced to talk-shops," says Councillor Hulse.
"They don't have any funding - they are not masters of their own destiny. They can listen to their communities but they can't do anything."

Waitakere City estimates that under the new council arrangement, property rates will go up by at least $550 to fund the costs of the changes.

All the assets that Waitakere ratepayers have paid for will be transferred to the new council's ownership.

The council is urging ratepayers who are concerned about the "loss of local democracy in Waitakere" to write to their MP or contact one of their local councillors.

 

“The proposed structure of one Auckland Council, with 12 members elected from wards and 8 at large, and 20 to 30 Local Boards, has been designed to ensure good governance for the Auckland region for the next 50 to 100 years,” Mr Hide said.

“As the Royal Commission on Auckland governance highlighted, the existing structures don’t work. The Commission said Auckland’s regional council and seven territorial authorities lacked the collective sense of purpose, constitutional ability, and momentum to address issues effectively for the overall good of Auckland.

“Our proposal will overcome these problems by allowing Auckland’s civic leaders to think regionally, plan strategically and act decisively in a way that has not happened for the past six decades.”

But if the Government is hoping that message will mollify Auckland's 'westies', it might take some repetition yet.