Local Government NZ says it is "committed" to assisting the West Coast Regional Council press the government for financial help with the Te Tai o Poutini Plan which will replace the existing three district plans in the region.
The West Coast Regional Council chambers at Paroa. Photo: Greymouth Star
The plan is estimated to cost several million although there is no firm figure yet going forward, TTPP project manager Jo Armstrong said today.
However she anticipated Environment Court and hearings cost for the draft above expenditure so far of $2.7m could be "millions" more.
LGNZ told the council in June the government should have covered more of the cost. Initially the council struck rates to cover the draft cost but in June it voted in favour of borrowing $1 million to fund an anticipated deficit by that amount by the end of the current year for the TTPP.
This was one reason the regional council bumped up rates significantly in recent years.
In June, LGNZ said the council should not have to pay for what was a precedent-setting government directive to formulate a combined plan.
The lobby group undertook to advocate on behalf of the council for costs.
Regional council chief executive Heather Mabin told councillors last month there was some "good news" around what LGNZ promised although she told the Greymouth Star this week it was still a work in progress.
"There hasn't (yet) been an outcome," Mabin said.
"LGNZ were meant to be working on our behalf but we haven't heard back yet."
The council narrowly voted to keep paying its LGNZ membership in June after LGNZ president Stuart Crosby acknowledged "dissatisfaction" about its advocacy role, particularly centred around three waters.
Crosby is currently overseas, but LGNZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said the upcoming Resource Management Act reform would have significant implications for councils which had gone through an expensive process to develop plans.
The draft Te Tai o Poutini Plan. Photo: Greymouth Star
"In the case of WCRC, we feel that it is fair that central government cover some of the costs of the draft Te Tai o Poutini Plan. We're committed to assisting them with this and are currently working through next steps."
Regional council chairman Allan Birchfield said for him the verdict was still out on whether LGNZ would make good to assist council over the TTPP.
"When LGNZ came to see us that was discussed then, that they would help us. I personally doubt that will happen," Birchfield said.
The 2019 directive to council to facilitate drafting the TTPP came with about $100,000 of seed funding from the government to get started.
Birchfield said this cost imposition with "all the other stuff that government makes us do" had driven up the regional council rates significantly in the past three years.
The council expects to carry a deficit of between $900,000 and $1 million by the end of the financial year for the TTPP.
The council has gathered over $1.6m in rates revenue for the TTPP since July 2019 with total expenses by mid-2022 up to $2.7m.
* Disclosure: Te Runanga o Makaawhio chairman Paul Madgwick, a member of the TTPP, is also the editor of the Greymouth Star. He took no part in the commissioning, writing or editing of this LDR story.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
