Simplifying Local Government
Allocating voting power
What would happen for voting arrangements on the CTB?
Currently, each regional councillor represents around 20,000 people so they get one vote each when they are making regional decisions. Under our preferred option (the CTBs), the mayors would vote.
Determining how many votes a mayor gets is challenging. There are two main options, but both have issues:
- One Mayor, One Vote: Every mayor gets one vote. This is simple but reduces the proportionality of voters. Mayors of small towns representing smaller populations would have the same power as mayors of large cities, allowing a minority of the population to have an outsized influence over the majority.
- Pure Population: A mayor's vote is weighted by the population of the city or district they represent. This is the most consistent with the democratic principles but could allow mayors of the largest city to dominate regional decisions.
A case study that shows how each example causes issues is provided as Annex B of this document.
What are you proposing?
We are proposing that the number of votes a mayor gets:
- reflects the population they represent, but
- is adjusted by the Local Government Commission so communities receive effective representation.
The Local Government Commission is an independent agency separate from the Government. The principle of ‘effective representation’ is already used by local authorities when undertaking representation reviews.
What does effective representation mean?
Effective representation basically means that all communities should have a voice in regional decisions.
How would the Local Government Commission balance effective representation with population size?
The Government is considering options to balance population size with effective representation when it comes to the CTBs.
The first option is to leave it up to the Local Government Commission to determine what the right balance should be. This provides the Commission with lots of flexibility to take into account the uniqueness of New Zealand’s diverse regions and communities, and to come up with innovative solutions. The downside is that communities wouldn’t know in advance how much voting power their mayors would have until the Commission does its work.
The second approach is to provide the Commission with specific legal objectives and criteria to guide its decisions. Under this approach, the Commission would have to find the best possible balance between different objectives when allocating votes between the mayors on the CTB. Draft objectives that are being considered are set out in the table below.
|
Objective |
Description |
|
Democratic legitimacy |
This is the "one person, one vote" principle. The system must acknowledge that a mayor representing 500,000 people has a different democratic weight than one representing 5,000. |
|
Effective representation |
The system must consider how distinct communities of interest in the region, including those with smaller populations or unique urban, suburban, and rural characteristics, are represented and protected, and can contribute effectively to decision-making. |
|
Effective |
The final system is transparent, understandable, and facilitates decision-making and consensus-building rather than promoting gridlock. |
Will this apply to all decisions?
No, some decision making at the regional level also requires participation of others. As an example, regional land transport planning includes the regional council, city and district councils, and the New Zealand Transport Agency. This makes sure urban, rural, and national interests are all balanced.
Like transport planning, a separate decision-making approach is planned for the new resource management system. This decision-making framework will ensure the management of common pool resources (such as freshwater) has strong regional governance that reflects a balance of interests across urban communities and rural communities. The Government proposes that, when certain resource management decisions are made, the CTB membership will be slightly different and a dual condition voting procedure will apply. A resolution would only pass if:
- CTB members representing more than 50% of the population support the resolution, and
- More than 50% of CTB members with a voting mandate for decisions on spatial plan chapters and/or natural environment plan chapters, support the resolution.
There is more information about the proposed decision-making process for certain resource management decisions in Annex C.
Further information
You can download the full proposal document and other materials from the Department of Internal Affairs website: www.dia.govt.nz/simplifying-local-government.