Whakatāne district councillor Nándor Tánczos calls the list of core services is 'bizarre'. Photo: LDR / SUPPLIED
Whakatāne district councillors have expressed surprise that cemeteries, public toilets, animal control, liquor licenses and consents are not considered core services for councils by the Government.
"This is bizarre," councillor Nándor Tánczos said.
"The [Coalition Government's] list of core services doesn't include a whole bunch of functions that the Government itself requires that we do."
Whakatāne District Council's living together committee was approving a submission to the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill on Thursday.
The bill is just one of 32 legislative changes that will have an impact on the local government sector, staff informed council at the meeting.
Among the key aspects of the bill is to remove reference to four wellbeings - social, economic, environmental and cultural - from core council services, which was reintroduced by Labour in 2019.
It's aim is to alleviate pressure on council rates by requiring councils to focus on specific core services and spend on basic services rather than nice-to-haves.
However, according to the council's submission, some of the services that councils are required by law to provide have been left off the list of these core services.
The council's submission listed some activities included in its long-term plan that are not considered core services in the bill. They include cemeteries, public toilets, community safety, animal control, road safety, building consenting, monitoring and certifying food premises, liquor licensing and gambling premises monitoring, resource consenting and enforcement, annual planning, annual reports, long term plan processes, audits, by-laws review and enforcement, local policies, noise control and health and safety compliance.
Core services of a local authority that are outlined in the bill are network infrastructure, public transport services, waste management, civil defence emergency management, libraries, museums, reserves, and other recreational facilities.
Councillor Julie Jukes also expressed surprise that the list of core services didn't include many of the functions that councils were required to provide by other pieces of legislation such as consenting.
The council also submitted that 99.96 percent of its $63 million capital expenditure, as stated in the 2024 Annual Report, was spent on core services as defined by the bill.
Of its $76 million operating expenditure, 51.35 percent was spent on core services. A large proportion of the remaining 48.65 percent was spent on other functions that councils were legally required to carry out.
The council's submission asked the Government to amend the list of core services to include all functions required by legislation and by communities. It also asked it to address the lack of appropriate funding tools for local government to alleviate pressure on councils and on rates.
It asked that the bill either further define or remove terms like "good quality" and "cost effective" to avoid further risks for councils and to ensure performance measures and benchmarks to reflect that Whakatāne district had a small rating base spread across a large geographical area.
Councillor Toni Boynton asked that the council also voice its opposition to a clause in the bill repealing the requirement for council to consider whether the director of a council-controlled organisation has relevant knowledge of tikanga Māori to be suitable for the position.
Ms Boynton wanted the council to oppose the clause to ensure it was "able to uphold the Crown's obligations under TeTiriti o Waitangi and to ensure that we are not diminishing cultural competency in public leadership".
The council agreed to add this to the submission.
Minister for Local Government Simon Watts, who introduced the bill into Parliament, told Local Democracy Reporting that many functions the council had highlighted were responsibilities they held under other acts.
"More broadly, the Government has been clear that we are refocusing councils to prioritise essential services first, rather than nice-to-haves," he said.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
