Wellington Mayors Push Towards Amalgamation

The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is warning that Wellington region mayors are pushing ahead with council amalgamation without a clear mandate from residents or any transparency over what the changes would cost ratepayers.

Taxpayers' Union Investigations Coordinator, Rhys Hurley, said:

"Wellington's mayors seem eager to merge councils, but are pushing ahead of the people who will ultimately foot the bill. Just because ratepayers in Lower Hutt and Porirua voted to explore the issue doesn't mean the entire region wants a super council."

"We've seen this all before. Previous attempts to create a Wellington super city were rejected because residents didn't want decisions centralised and local voices weakened."

"The same tired mentality is being wheeled out again, 'we must do this before it is done to us.' Yet in Auckland's Super City, the only things achieved were more bureaucracy, higher costs and less local decision‑making, without any review."

"Shared services are the better path. Councils need to look at the books and realise the best way forward is to focus on getting back to basics and working together, not amalgamating power."