Kia Ora,

Last weekend we farewelled our friend and colleague, Cr Peter Johns, in Woodville, where his contribution to the Tararua District over many years was celebrated.

While Peter is irreplaceable, his passing does leave a place at our council table that needs to be filled. When a vacancy arises in this situation, Council is required to hold a by-election. This process is managed by council staff under established protocols, and more information about the process will be communicated shortly.

While the last few weeks have been a time of sadness, council work continues at pace, including the development of our Long-Term Plan. I want to thank everyone who has contributed feedback through our most recent engagement, Design Your Ideal Services, which asked for views on footpaths, libraries, and economic development. The feedback has been very useful and will help inform the choices we need to make.

We are facing some strong headwinds. The reduction in roading funding from NZTA, significant investment required to respond to central government’s RMA and other reforms, and the prospect of a rates cap from 2029 will all put significant pressure on our budgets. We will need to make some tough choices together if we are going to keep rates affordable and sustainable over the long term. That means being disciplined about what we spend, while protecting the things our communities value most.

Some of you will have seen the Government’s recent decision to pause its amalgamation process. I welcome that decision. I have always thought a three-month timeframe was ridiculous for something as significant as changing the structure of local government.

My hope now is that the pause creates space for some common sense. Local government does need reform. We need to find better ways of working, reduce duplication, make better use of shared services and technology, and ultimately deliver better value for ratepayers. But bigger is not automatically better, and amalgamation should not be treated as the only answer.

The structure of councils matters because it affects who has a voice and how decisions are made. In a large council, it is easy for smaller and rural communities to become less visible. We should be looking for reforms that improve efficiency while retaining strong local representation and accountability.

There is a real opportunity here to have a more mature conversation about what good local government should look like. There are plenty of areas where councils could work together more closely without giving up local representation. We should be prepared to challenge the way things have always been done, but we should also be careful not to throw away the local knowledge and relationships that make councils effective in their communities.

I hope the Government takes the time to work with councils and communities to develop options that genuinely improve the way we operate, rather than simply creating bigger organisations.

That would be reform worth having.

Ngā mihi nui, many thanks

Scott Gilmore - Mayor