Interesting times - Election Poll 2010

An opinion poll for the Dominion Post asked on 3 March 2010:^[6]

Would you vote for Kerry Prendergast for a fourth term as Wellington mayor?

25% said that they would vote for her, whilst 44% said that they would not.^[7] Another online poll conducted by the Dominion Post asked on 25 November 2009:^[8]

Who should be Wellington's next mayor?

As of mid May 2010, 450 people had voted, with Brian Pepperell achieving 40.3% of the votes, Celia Wade Brown was second with 26.9% and Kerry Prendergast was on 4.0%.^[9]

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Penny Bright speaks with Bryan Pepperell about water privatisation in Au...

Wellington City's high cost of rates and rents

NO WATER PRIVATISATION IN WELLINGTON -YEAH RIGHT!

Media

21 June 2010

On Thursday, 17 June 2010, the Wellington City Council Strategy and Policy Committee met to finalise Council's sub-mission on the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill.

Radio New Zealand's response this morning was misleading to say the least in that it stated that Wellington City Council had backed down on water privatisation through public pressure. It was one of the more misleading news items that I have ever heard.

Council was not changing its policy but was making a weasel worded submission on the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill. Regarding the issue of privatisation, Wellington City has for some time entered into a 25 year contract to have sewage treatment managed, with an automatic right of renewal. That's fifty years and, as far as the profit takers are concerned, it's (privatised) done and dusted. What Council submitted on was the 35 year contract proposal in the Bill, saying that it would not support that length of time. It supports up to 15 years. Cr John Morrison mumbled that to be consistent 15 years should have been opposed also. He was correct but as Council had already entered into a long term contract it was disingenuous to say the least.

Mr Warwick Taylor from the Residents Coalition urged the committee not to make a Council submission as there had not been a full consultation of community organisations, as did Mr Tom Law from the Federation of Progressive Associations, who blasted the Council for failing to consult any community organisations.

The Residents Coalition submitted that the term privatisation was important to understand and that water management under Capacity fell within the scope of privatisation. At the beginning of this triennium I told the Council that I would remind the public and Council of the deal that was struck over Capacity.

At the start of the 2007 triennial a remuneration package deal was struck at Council. At that time Council voted to increase Capacity directors' fees by fifty percent. That was done at the beginning of the financial crisis when many banks and finance houses were failing and bonuses were still being paid.

Capacity had failed to deliver its savings target and had not met its Key Performance Indicators but the fifty percent increase to directors still went ahead. It is time that the ratepayers were reminded of those events.

THE CAPACITY PAY DEAL AND OTHER LATES AND TRUSTS
How Councillors voted to increase their pay on LATES AND TRUSTS

The substantive motion recommendation 2 was put.

Voting for: Mayor Prendergast, Councillors Ahipene-Mercer, Best, Cook, Coughlan, Foster, Gill, McKinnon, Morrison, Wade-Brown and Wain.

Voting against: Councillor Goulden, Pannett, Pepperell and Ritchie. Majority Vote: 11:4

This is how the losses are socialised under Mayor Prendergast and her A team at Wellington City Council. It is how the profit takers have been let in with two elected councillors removed and replaced by two selected directors. The profit takers are in the form of private business contractors in water management and delivery. Privatisation was done and dusted when water management went into the hands of the profit takers through Capacity, the water management company for Lower Hutt and Wellington.

*Councillor Foster was appointed to Capacity

Councillor Bryan Pepperell

Wellington City

*List of the stakeholders that WCC met with were:

• Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust on Friday 11 September 2009
• Hon Chris Finlayson on Friday 16 October 2009 (prior to Cabinet meeting scheduled for 19 October 2009)
• Enterprise Miramar on Friday 23 following a tour led by Enterprise Miramar of the Miramar Peninsular for the Director of Strategy, Planning and Urban Design, Teena Pennington and other new members of her team
• Sam Morgan; Blair O’Keefe, Mark McGuinness; David Wood; Sandy McCallum and Martin Shelton at a Mayor’s Networking meeting on Friday 30 October 2009.
• Victoria University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh, on Tuesday 3 November 2009.

WATER IS A PUBLIC BENEFIT AND NOT FOR PROFIT

WATER NOT FOR PROFIT

THE AGE OF HUMAN ENERGY

No stopping the big spenders at Wellington City Council

Over the years I have talked a lot about Wellington City Council’s debt. I now have a further update which you may find of interest.

In a recent presentation to Council during Annual Plan deliberations the acting CFO gave Council some Borrowings Charts that show Council’s borrowings jumping from around $280 million in 2010 to $360 million in 2011 and $370 million in 2012.

That figure doesn’t include leaky buildings. It could rise by $100 million or more. So far we have only estimates/guesstimates until more information comes to light. Its not as if we haven’t known what is coming as there has been plenty of media about this issue. To begin with the weather tight issue was dealt with in public excluded but as it became clear how big the issue is the public exclusion has been lifted. Most of the impact is in Auckland but we have enough here in Wellington to be concerned.

Weather tight buildings are a systemic problem that began in 1991 and was well underway by the time I was elected to Council in 1996. One of my first battles on Council was about “business process re-engineering” Council. I can remember arguing that neither the library nor the building section of Council should be re- engineered. The building section on council should be better resourced with more attention to best practice and better inspections. That didn’t happen and the profit sector was invited to participate in certifications and inspections. There was political influence and calls for the use of untreated timbers and the liberalising of building codes. The profit takers wanted cheaper homes to be built and new products were introduced and the banks helped by expanding credit. The rest is history and we are now once again socialising the losses that the profit takers have left us. All this happened under the watches of Mayors Blumsky and Prendergast. Under the mayors of private profit Wellington changed and we are now dealing with the mess that has been left. Not only have the business rates been switched onto the residents, so has the losses caused by the profit takers.

It is about time Wellington woke from its stupor and faced the reality of 15 years of apathy. Next year rate payers are in for a big shock to their wallets. We have lived beyond our means for 15 years and we are now in the midst of the worst recession since the 1930s; there has been tremendous wealth destruction and there is more to come. Many property owners cannot get certificates of compliance which is adding further pressure on the property market and the finance sector. There is more financial stress to come for many residents as a consequence of the profit takers being giving control of the public interest.