DCC’s lastminute budget revamp a travesty
IT looked like an April Fool’s Day joke seeing the proposals to ‘‘accelerate’’ $20 million of ratepayer spending and add another $11.4 million of new spending.
But no.
At the end of June, the Dunedin City Council adopted the Longterm Plan (LTP) for 2018 to 2028.
It was described as ‘‘ambitious’’ and was agreed to after the staff of the DCC had spent the second half of last year organising a proposal for public consultation and much of the first half of this year organising consultation, and redoing budgets as a result of submissions by the public.
Not happy with the outcome of this extensive consultation and rates rises starting at 7.8% for the first year, the staff were asked by Dave Cull and whatever associates he talks to to provide a report for the council meeting this week to spend more money and to change the priorities agreed in June.
Not satisfied with treating the consultation process with contempt, Dave Cull is quoted in the ODT (27.10.18) as saying about the proposals that ‘‘this will not increase costs overall’’, and that council staff want to get on and get these things done, as if it is their idea.
What the staff actually said in their summary of considerations is that ‘‘bringing forward capital expenditure will have a negative impact on future income and interest costs’’. What this means in ordinary language is that it will cost more.
The staff are right when they say it will cost more. And they should not be blamed for wanting to get on and do more. It is the role of council to decide what money is spent and what priorities they choose on behalf of the community.
On a good day these proposals to upend the decisions made at the end of June are disrespectful of the common sense of the people of Dunedin.
At worst, the council has forgotten what it decided a few short weeks ago and at least one member of council, the Mayor, believes spending more will not cost more.
The proposal in this report is egregious for several reasons.
One of the items which is proposed to be longfingered is the Mosgiel pool complex. If this project does not need the money this year, that is one year of interest on the borrowing which will not be needed, a saving to ratepayers.
And the spending can happen as soon as it is needed, rather than being reallocated elsewhere.
Some of the spending proposed in the report is new spending, for items which were known about when the LTP was proposed. The lift renewals, for example, have been in contemplation for years. The central city library refurbishment and parks and reserves facilities also had ample opportunity to have their cases heard in the consultation process.
There are only two types of spending. There are items reintroduced into the spending programme now that the consultation is finished, and there are items which some councillors decided they wished to be higher up the list than they had managed to get them first time round.
The capital budget for this year is $68 million. The proposal for the council meeting this week was to rearrange about
$20 million of spending and add $11.4 million. The proposed changes affect close to half the expenditure consulted on.
In his report to the council on the Longterm Plan, Audit NZ’s audit director said in his opinion the plan ‘‘provided a reasonable basis for longterm decisionmaking and accountability of the council to the community’’. Since this report is a legal requirement, how do we reconcile having to have our LTP reviewed with overriding it in such a major way in so short a time?
This whole proposal is a travesty of the consultation process and totally at odds with the consultation principles in the Local Government Act.
It is disrespectful of the time and energy involved in the consultation.
It makes a pretence of putting out a consultation document approved by the auditors, who thought the consultation was real.
Spending other people’s money should never be done so disrespectfully.
Next time you feel tempted to make a submission, give yourself a break and make it to the seagulls. It will be just as effective and you won’t have to wait to be heard. — hcalvert@xtra.co.nz