One of the big differences between being a Councillor and stepping up to the Mayor role is operating at a regional level. This is especially true with all the reform coming at us from Central Government. The need to work together and to speak with one voice (as far as possible) has made the Bay of Plenty Mayoral Forum, the Eastern Bay of Plenty Joint Committee, and similar groupings more important than ever. We need to be in there and we need to be active participants.
We are fortunate in the Bay of Plenty to have a friendly and collaborative Regional Council Chair and group of Mayors. The ability to work together and support each other is important not just in times of trouble, such as when we sent people over to Tauranga after Mauāo took a number of lives earlier this year but also as part of our advocacy to Government. This is on top of ‘business as usual’.
BOPLASS, for example, is a company owned by nine councils around the Bay of Plenty, East Coast and Taupō focused on shared procurement and shared services. By investing around $30 000 per year our council has saved some $225 000 each year in operating costs – close to $4 000 000 over the life of the company. I and the other Mayors in the Bay of Plenty believe that there are more savings that can be found by working together in other ways. We have asked our respective Chief Executives to look for opportunities to do that and report back.
Talking with Mayors from around the region, and across the country at Local Government New Zealand hui, has showed me that although small Councils like ours face some pressures that the big Councils don’t have, all Councils face very similar issues around the country. One Mayor that I was speaking to – a first term Mayor like me but who had never spent time as a Councillor – was worried about how he was going to explain the latest rates increase to his voters. He was elected on a promise to cut rates and was now facing the reality that he could not deliver.
I am proud to have been elected on a platform of hard but honest truths.
Here in Whakatāne we have just adopted our Draft Annual Plan budget with an average rates increase of 9.4%. This is the amount agreed in 2024 in the Long Term Plan and this new Council has not changed that. There was inflationary pressure to put rates up more, but this Council has been united in its commitment to finding greater efficiency in how the Council operates. We asked our staff to find savings and they have done so.
Throughout the organisation our staff are really focused on doing more with less. As a result, we have not just managed to avoid a larger rates increase than projected but found additional savings. Councillors then faced a tough decision – use that money to reduce the rates increase, or to reduce the operating deficit.
The operating deficit has been in place since covid. Basically, the Council has kept rates increases lower than they might have been by rating less money than was needed to pay the operating costs and borrowing to make up the shortfall. Of course, this just locks in higher rates increases in the future, to service a debt that just keeps growing. Borrowing to pay for capital assets is one thing – like taking out a mortgage to pay for the house. Borrowing to pay for operating costs is like taking out a mortgage to pay for the groceries. Like a blood-sucking vampire, sooner or later that will come back to bite.
I commend our Councillors this year for making the tough but financially prudent choice to use the savings to reduce the operating deficit. This will save substantial amounts of money for ratepayers over the next few years.
We also agreed to put some of those savings aside for contingencies. We know interest rates may well start to climb and the Israeli / US attacks on Iran are already sending oil prices higher. We have been trying to insulate the Council as best we can from these kinds of global disruptions. We have been moving our vehicle fleet towards electric and hybrid motors which both save money on maintenance and fuel and help stave off oil price spikes. We have also been installing solar panels on our buildings where they return a positive net financial benefit and reduce dependence on generators.
We have also been trying to support community groups who have the potential to take over some council functions. For example, the well publicised community interest in reinstating and maintaining the Ngā Tapuwae o Toi Walkway is one example of how Council might be able to support and facilitate the enthusiasm and skill in the community to achieve an outcome that Council would find it difficult to afford from rates. There will always be some tension between Council’s ethical and legal obligations (such as Health and Safety accountability) and community desire for action ‘yesterday’ but with good will and patience on both sides I think we can get a great outcome.
Finally, the committee structure that I established last year includes a Community Grants and Funding Committee. This builds on the committee that was already in place to bring all of Council’s community grants under one roof but extends its remit to identify external funding opportunities for Council projects. Given the demographics and economics of this district we benefit more than most from strong social infrastructure that supports community resilience. Those very factors also make it difficult for us to afford it. A committee that helps identify potential grants, loans, philanthropy, commercial sponsorship, and other funding mechanisms will support having community facilities that we collectively benefit from without burdening our ratepayers too much.
Our Councillors and staff are highly motivated to find cost savings and innovative ways of operating and funding the things our communities need. We are committed to being fiscally prudent AND socially conscious. We won’t get everything right and we’ll be marked by the voters in just over 2 and a half years. I hope you think we passed.
(Mayoral column in the Whakatāne Beacon 13 March 2026)
