The Whangarei District Council (WDC) is currently going through a "Have your say" process about its Long Term Plan 2018-2028 (LTP) . Submissions to the plan close tomorrow, the 8th.

The discussion has largely been a one-way dialogue from Council via paid advertising in a community newspaper. There has been very little independent commentary about the plan and my perception is that the public has not shown much interest in the process. As a result ratepayers are largely unaware of what their council is planning, which is a shame because it means council staff and councillors have a free reign to promote their own self-interests rather than the interests of their community.

In theory, the LTP lays out the blueprint of council rating and spending over the next ten years. What we know from previous ten-year plans however is that they bear very little resemblance to what eventuates: The eventuality is usually a whole lot worse than the plan. The Plan should therefore be considered a best-case scenario.

Unfortunately, looking ahead, that best case scenario is for a very significant deterioration in the financial position of the council. Ratepayers will pay a lot more, and future generations of ratepayers will be lumbered with much more debt to repay.

The key financial aspects of the plan involve:

• Annual rate increases of 5% a year. So a household currently paying $2,000 in rates will pay $3,200 in 10 years. (It also proposes to increase fees and charges by between 2% to 2.7% a year.)
• A 60% increase in public debt from $150m to $240m - an increase of approximately $2,000 per rateable property.
• A change in the way transport is funded. Funding will now be collected via a targeted rate on the market value of a property rather than as part of the general rates on land value, which transfers the incidence of rates to those with higher value homes.

The council claims the rate and debt increases are required to fund growth, but that tells only half of the story. One of the larger spending items over the next three years is $30m on a Civic Centre - in addition to the $7m already allocated. The "Civic Centre" is actually a new council office building, which it says will, "help revitalise, stimulate and improve the amenity of the city, drive operational efficiencies at Council and help improve customer service… enabling increased efficiency and more collaborative working."  Yeah, right!

Ratepayers had been asked to have a say on three options: Refurbishing the existing offices at Forum North, constructing a new building on the adjoining RSA site (which council recently purchased for $3.4m), or a new building somewhere in the central business district. A "do nothing" option was not one the council sought comment on!

This is what the council is proposing.

"What would a new civic centre include?

• 5,000 – 5,500 m2 to allow for 350 staff and our Elected Members, as well as space to expand in the future. The additional space could be let to compatible tenants until needed e.g. lawyers, planning or engineering firms.
• Council Chambers, which incorporate: good acoustics, a layout that allows live streaming of meetings, use for general public meetings.
• Civil Defence Emergency Operations Centre.
• Open plan office space, with breakout spaces and multi-purpose meeting rooms".

My view is that increasing council debt for a fancy office building to house the Council is a ridiculous bureaucratic indulgence. The new office building will benefit no-one other than council staff and councillors. There is no community benefit.

The obvious question is, why does council need to spend $40 million on a new building when there is so much vacant space in Whangarei already? Adding another 5,000 m2 of space and offering the additional space to compatible tenants will simply contribute to that oversupply and compete with private sector landlords who have to live in the real world where money matters. 

At a little over $7,000 a square metre the building cost is significant - more than twice that of a home with a high level of fit-out. Despite this, the LTP says this would be cheaper than refurbishing the existing building! Most people would find that very hard to believe.

And why do councillors need a new building to improve the acoustics in the council chamber? Perhaps they should simply invest in a better sound system. And why live stream the meetings? Their meetings are actually tedious and boring to watch. I suppose they would say streaming will provide better community engagement! What really would provide better community engagement is if people felt their opinion mattered to councillors.

In my view that the Council has already made up its mind about the nice-to-have new office building and its location on the adjoining RSA site. That would leave Forum North available for the development of a $10.5m nice-to-have new theatre, which has also been included in the LTP to be funded by debt. That means they have already made up their mind to significantly increase ratepayer debt and rates over the next 10 years.