Invercargill Council: 3 Waters concerns 'remain relevant, unaddressed'
“Our concern remains that services and assets the community view as essential will be viewed differently by the new entity."
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The Invercargill City Council opposes being asked to collect revenue for Three Waters services it will no longer control and deliver in the future.
The council has drafted a submission on the Water Services Legislation Bill and the Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill.
It follows the Government’s Three Waters Reform.
The Government plans to create four new publicly-owned Water Services Entities which will run New Zealand’s drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services – currently operated by councils on behalf of communities. The Government’s plan will build these new Water Services Entities (WSEs) on the foundations of existing council infrastructure, people, and expertise.
The council outlines a host of concerns it its draft submission.
In the draft submission the council says the issues most relevant from the legislation to Invercargill City are:
The lack of impact Local Government feedback to date has had on the broader reform agenda as well as the draft legislation.
That Invercargill City Council opposes being compelled to collect revenue for a service we will no longer control and deliver.
We are concerned about the process for determining councils’ three waters debts. The outlined process provides no transparent and equitable means by which the Council and Crown may negotiate over this fundamental issue.
We are concerned that the provisions appear to provide that a WSE will have exemptions from paying rates. WSE infrastructure should not be treated differently to other network infrastructure and WSE’s should pay their way.
We are concerned that so late in the reform process there are still a significant number of matters that are left to be agreed at a later date particularly around the regulatory requirements provided for in the Economic Regulation Bill.
The Invercargill City Council will decide if it will proceed with its submission as is or make tweaks when it meets for an extraordinary infrastructure meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb 14).
The draft submission says many of the concerns were raised by the council with the then Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta in September 2021. They were again raised in its submission to the Water Services Entity Bill in August 2022. However, they still remain relevant and unaddressed, the report says.
“At the time of writing to Minister Mahuta, councillors expressed their strong sense of responsibility for kaitiakitanga for these assets, which the local people have invested into over generations.
“Our concern remains that services and assets the community view as essential will be viewed differently by the new entity and that the proposed legislation does not allow for effective means for local people to influence decisions about the services which they rely on.”
Submissions from local government—including local and regional councils—close on Friday, February 17.