Hawke’s Bay has five councils: Hastings, Wairoa and Central Hawke’s Bay district councils, Napier City Council, and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
A theoretical image of a Hawke’s Bay region divided into north and south council territories, with Napier and Wairoa on one side of the Tūtaekurī River and Hastings and CHB on the other.
Graphic / Hawke’s Bay Today
On Tuesday, the two biggest councils, Napier City Council and Hastings District Council, shared three amalgamation options that they want feedback on from residents.
Option one is a single council combining all or most councils.
Option two is a two-council model, which could see a northern council and a southern council, potentially divided by a landmark such as the Tūtaekuri River (between Hastings and Napier).
Both options would be unitary authorities, carrying out city/district and regional council functions.
Details are light on where the boundary could fall for option two.
“If the region was split into two unitary authorities, the boundary would almost certainly have to change,” Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum said.
“We do not yet know what that would look like.
“Before any work is done on that, councils need to understand whether our communities have any appetite for it, particularly given it would cost more than having one unitary authority across the whole region.
“I know some people have been suggesting where a new boundary could sit, but my view is that it is simply too early to say.”
A third option is to ignore the request for amalgamation and let the Government decide if it’s necessary.
Napier Mayor Richard McGrath said it was important local voices were part of the conversation.
“We are under significant time pressures at this stage of the conversation but there will be lots of opportunity over the next year to talk more with community,” McGrath said.
“What we are asking right now is for people to take this seriously, get involved and share their views.”
He said there was a lot councils did not know at this stage.
“We don’t know if any option would reduce rates.
“We don’t know if there’d be cost savings, and if there are, when they’d be realised.
“We don’t know what future governance arrangements might look like.
“And we don’t know how local representation would work, or how responsibilities might be shared.
“Those are exactly the kinds of questions that need to be worked through.”
Hastings District Council, in a media release, stated no decisions had been made and there was no preferred option yet.
Napier City Council’s Simplifying Local Government survey is open until Friday, July 10 on sayitnapier.nz.
Hastings District Council’s Simplifying Local Government survey is open until Sunday, July 12 on myvoicemychoice.co.nz.
A public amalgamation conversation evening is being held at 6pm on Monday, July 6 at the Napier War Memorial Centre.
Hawke’s Bay’s past attempt at amalgamation
In 2015, a referendum asked residents whether they wanted to merge the region’s five councils into a single Hawke’s Bay Council.
Only Hastings was in favour, with 52% of returned votes supportive.
Napier (84% against), Wairoa (88% against), and Central Hawke’s Bay (58% against) opposed the merger.
Debt was a major issue.
The thought of ratepayers potentially paying off another district’s debt proved unpopular.
At the time, Hastings had about $55 million in external debt, while Napier had none.
Today, Hastings District Council still has – by far – the most debt of any council in the region.
As of early May, Hastings’ external debt is $493.7m, of which $32m is cash holdings (meaning it hasn’t been spent).
Napier City Council has $130m external debt (as of late March); Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, $117m (as of early February); Central Hawke’s Bay District Council, $47m (as of December) and Wairoa District Council has $10m (as of December).