Kaipara was Right – NZTA has Short Changed them $5.57million

Kaipara District Council planned to spend $22.91million on its roads in 2010/11. The New Zealand Transport Agency approved $17.34million. Furthermore, there is another $1.4million in doubt due to further Government cutbacks. This means the Kaipara ratepayers could actually be short changed by $6.9million. The New Zealand Transport Agency press release dated 30 March 2010 did not address this issue but rather discussed maintenance over three years.

Kaipara District Mayor Neil Tiller confirms these figures as correct. “I have thoroughly checked our budgets and NZTA approval. I confirm my original statements were correct and I stand by them. In fact, the review has indicated that the situation could be worse than this. We could be $6.9million short. This is a large lump to cut out of a $22.9million budget.”

Mayor Tiller explained he did not want to argue with the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) as they are required to deliver Government Policy. It is the Government who decided to change roading funding when it issued GPS2. “This shifted the focus and money from rural roading networks onto urban roads. That was the Government’s decision.”

The original comments released by Council were misunderstood by NZTA. This resulted in their commenting in their release on basic maintenance allocations over a period of years. There is no argument about Council’s roading programme and what has been funded.

“Council entered into a contract with its community when it set work programmes and service levels, as well as budgets in Kaipara’s Future – Working Together 2009-19, the Council’s Long Term Council Community Plan, and we need to make sure our community is not disadvantaged by the decisions of Government” says Mayor Tiller.

Mayor Tiller made it clear Council feels strongly on the matter. “We will be taking this matter up with the Government, including the Minister of Transport, to ensure it knows the impact it is having on rural roads. We will also be asking Local Government New Zealand to support us on this issue.”

Mayor Tiller provided the following table which confirms where the cut in NZTA approved spending has been felt.

As a further blow, Council has been informed that $1.4million allocated for RDF Forestry funding is now in doubt. This will mean an under-spend on the Districts roads of $6.9million on what was planned when the Council set its programme for roading in the Council’s Long Term Council Community Plan after talking to the community in 2009. The result of this is that there will be: -

• No improvements to the roading network;
• No preventative maintenance;
• A deteriorating roading network;
• Increased costs to ratepayers;
• Increased costs to road users through greater wear and tear on vehicles.

Mayor Tiller is adamant that he and the Council will continue to work with NZTA in an effort to reduce the costs to ratepayers and to protect roads so they remain at a reasonable standard for local and business use. “The Kaipara is a district heavily reliant on the farming sector for its wealth. The farming sector needs good transport networks to get product to market and to bring farming imports to their farms. This is in addition to the need for rural people to be able to interact in their communities, something for which roads are essential.”

ENDS

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