The council conundrum

When you really sit down and think about it, what is it that people want, or maybe even need, in their day-to-day lives? I’m not talking about basic rights such as sustenance, sanitation, and a roof over one’s head – but the more intangible wants and needs we may or may not even realise are those.

As I progress through life’s wild, varied and often quite blurred stages, the answer to that question has become clearer and simpler: Freedom to manage my time as I please, the financial security to afford the basics, the little things and the occasional big thing, for those around me to add value to my life and vice versa, and for shit to just work without aggravation (‘grumpy old man’ beginning to set in, maybe?).

There’s likely to be a couple of other things, but distilling it down right now, that’s what I’m left with. Those are the things that, at this stage, raise the quality of life for me. Some of them are entirely dependent on the effort I’m willing to put in. Some require a little help from my friends, to paraphrase The Beatles. And occasionally, some are entirely at the mercy of people I may only ever speak to for a few short minutes or never even meet – but whom I put a fair amount of faith and trust in to do the best they can within their remit.

And so I listened to and read with interest reports from this week’s Local Government Conference in Christchurch.

Government wants councils to deliver more, charge less, concentrate on core services and give up on ‘vanity projects and nice-to-haves’. Councillors say government is being condescending, hypocritical and unrealistic.

And the people? I suspect many wouldn’t have an issue with nice public toilets, new rec facilities and improved transport infrastructure. Potable water, garbage collection, clean streets, spaces they can freely enjoy… they go without saying. Artwork that adds a little vibrancy and invites people to enjoy the built environment? Sure, it has its place. Sculptures that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars? Yeah, nah.

From a personal perspective, for the past few years Tauranga’s local body could well have been the most dysfunctional of all cities recently (maybe soon overtaken by Wellington?), stuck with an appointed committee instead of an elected council. We have one of those now and I do not envy their task. Sure, rates have gone up, as they have elsewhere, and that’s had residents up in arms, as it has elsewhere. Much like toll roads, RUCs and (some) taxes, I don’t mind paying so long as it’s commensurate with what I get in return and remains on the side of reasonable.

When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what level of government is in question – they all exist to serve you and me. We elect them on the promise they will deliver what’s best for us and we expect them to do so. ‘Us and them’ disagreements between central and local governments – exacerbated by periodic changes between blue and red ideologies – gets us nowhere.

It shouldn’t be more complicated than continued delivery of the basics that raises quality of life for a town’s, city’s or country’s residents.

Take care out there,

Gavin Myers
Editor

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