Simplifying Local Government

Territorial authorities are led by mayors. Under this proposal, all the mayors in a region would sit on a board that becomes responsible for the governance and decision-making on proposals that impact the wider region.

We call this board of mayors a ‘combined territories board’ (or CTB). The CTB would make the decisions regional councillors currently do.

This means you won’t have two separate sets of elected councillors for the same area. The CTB would take over all the regional council’s roles and obligations until step 2 is complete.

A list of CTB groupings and the councils in each is attached as Annex A.

Why?

This simplifies local government in your region without you losing local control over your community assets and important decisions – your mayor would communicate these views to the CTB.

By simplifying governance at the regional level, decisions should be much more coordinated. It’ll be easier to understand who is responsible for what.

During step 2 of this proposal, CTBs will focus on making a plan that supports delivery of better services and value for money for your regions.

How?

CTBs take over all roles and functions of regional councils, such as:

• managing rivers, lakes, the coastal marine area and air quality
• managing regional council assets
• implementing any Treaty settlement commitments which are administered by the regional council
• regional transport planning
• civil defence and emergency management
• environmental regulation and resource management

CTBs will meet regularly, like a council meeting. Decisions must comply with the same laws regional councils do, such as consulting communities, considering environmental impacts, and meeting other statutory obligations.

Are CTBs permanent?

That will be up to the individual councils in the region. Further detail is set out in the Improving Local Government section of this document.

How will CTBs work in practice?

CTBs will have to make decisions in the regional interest (not just one community), just as regional councils do now. Regional council operations remain the same for now.

CTBs will be able to establish committees on the same basis as they do currently. City and district councillors will be able to be appointed to committees by their mayor, as a delegate. This will help split the workload between the mayor and other councillors.

Any committees established as part of a Treaty settlement would remain in place.

Regional councillors are paid at a level set independently by the Remuneration Authority. The same will apply for CTB members and delegates (with modifications to the process as necessary).

What about the alternative choices for regional decision-making?

A CTB is our preferred option but there are alternatives. A Crown Commissioner could be appointed to the CTB alongside the mayors. This would ensure that the national interest is considered in regional decision-making.

The Crown Commissioner could have:

• no vote: the Crown Commissioner would participate in discussions but not be involved in final decisions
• veto power: the Crown Commissioner would have the power to veto CTB decisions when they thought this necessary in the interests of New Zealand as a whole
• majority vote: the Crown Commissioner would have the majority vote on the CTB (more than 50% of the weighted votes). The remainder of votes would be distributed among the mayors as set out in our preferred option. This would ensure that decisions are made in the interests of New Zealand, not just the region.

Another option is to appoint Crown Commissioners to replace regional councillors. Crown Commissioners would be appointed by the Government to run regional councils in the short-term and to prepare the regional reorganisation plan.