Amalgamation hot subject at municipal meeting

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 47, 6 May 1986, Page 2

Amalgamation hot subject at municipal meeting

Ohakune's Mayor, Bill Taylor reported to borough councillors that the Municipal Association conference he attended recently was the most significant of the six he had heen to. Change in local government was at the core of all discussions, he said. Representatives from local governments of all sizes took part in debating sessions. "The days of these sessions being the prerogative of large authorities only seems to be a thing of the past," he said. The main topics discussed at the conference were reorganisation of local government and revenue sharing. Options for the reorganisation proposals appear virtually non-existent, he said. "Gentral government was left in no doubt that most authorities, and virtually all smaller authorities were massively opposed to what is happening," he said. "The commission may be said to have a fight on its hands. I would not be

surprised if a measure of political intervention, as we lead up to the 1987 general election, tempered the more enthusiastic and extreme actions of the Local Government Commission. "There are implications in all this for our own case. It would be my considered advice to this council that we do not further temper our proposals in the matter of union." The Prime Minister David Lange announced the introduction of the first stage of direct revenue sharing with local government at the conference. This financial year it is estimated that the borough will receive in the range of $7500 to $10,000. Raetihi Mayor Garrick Workman said he was pleased that he had gone to the conference, and he had found it a rewarding experience. He said that amalgamation had been a major topic expecially among representatives of smaller authorities. "From the time Dunedin Mayor Cliff Skeggs made his opening remarks and mentioned amalgamation, and was booed, the scene

was set. Smaller authorities were bitterly opposed to enforced amalgamation," he said. "I came away feeling that the pistol pointed at our heads had been lowered. The sheer force of objection was such that the Local Government Commission and the Government may be wary of enforcing particular proposals."