John MacDonald: Councils cutting costs? It won't happen. Here's why

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

It seems our local councils are in the Finance Minister’s line of sight.

She’s been saying since the latest inflation numbers came out yesterday that, yes, it is somewhat positive that inflation is at 3.3 percent —just outside the Reserve Bank’s target— but she’s saying it’s not time to take the foot off the pedal.

And she’s made it very clear who she is expecting to go heavier on the pedal, and that’s local councils. But do you really see that happening? Do you honestly believe that local councils are capable of reducing costs to the point that they actually play a role in reducing inflation?

The thing with inflation is that it’s influenced by what’s going on outside the country - oil prices, wars, even elections in some of the bigger countries.

And then there’s what’s going on within New Zealand. And, at the moment, two of the biggest domestic contributors to inflation are insurance costs and rates.

In Waimakariri, rates are going up by 9.39 percent. In Christchurch, there’s a 9.9 percent average increase on the way. In Selwyn, it’s 14.9 percent.

Then, of course, there’s the ECAN regional council rates, which are increasing by 17.9 percent. It could have been worse. ECAN was originally proposing a 24.2 percent increase - but they trimmed the budget and got it down to 17.9. In Westland, people there are going to have their local council rates go up 18.64 percent and their regional council rates increase by 27 percent.

The Finance Minister isn’t happy about that and wants local councils up and down the country to start doing their bit to bring inflation down. But I don’t think that’s possible.

And it’s not about the councils themselves. It’s about us. It’s about you and me.

It’s you and me who expect more and more from our local councils. It’s you and me who bang on about the council not doing enough to clear the leaves from the gutters during Autumn. It’s you and me who —when we see water pouring out of a broken drain somewhere— who want it sorted straight away.

It’s you and me who want to be able to go to the library day and night, even though there might only be a handful of people there when we turn up. But the lights are on, the heaters are on, the staff are there.

It’s you and me who expect our local council to be fixing the potholes in the roads and the cracks in the footpaths. It’s you and me who want to be able to talk to someone at the council 24/7.

See what I mean? Until we start listening and understanding what the Finance Minister is saying about local councils doing their bit to cut costs and help bring inflation down further, nothing’s going to change.

If we understand what she’s saying, we’ll stop criticising our councils from the sidelines and realise that the Finance Minister is talking to us —you and me— just as much as she’s talking to mayors, councillors and council staff around the country.

Until we all listen, councils won’t have a hope in hell of tightening their budgets, cutting their costs, trimming their budgets and getting their costs down.

Because the more we expect and demand, the more expensive things get.

So, no, I don’t have any faith that our local councils can do what the Finance Minister wants them to do. Because we won’t let them, with all our demands and expectations.

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