John MacDonald: More proof that local government is broken

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

We’re about one month away from the halfway mark in the current term of the Christchurch City Council and its latest residents survey is a shocker.

For starters, people do seem to be very happy with things like libraries, recreation services, rubbish collection. All that stuff. People, generally, are also pretty happy with things like the reliability of the water supply.

83% of people are happy with that.

Where things go pear-shaped, though, is the stuff to do with the elected councillors and the decisions they make. I’ll run you through some of the results but, what we have to ask ourselves, is whether this is just one hopeless council or whether they’re all the same.

And, as much as I’m not surprised by these results, I don’t think it’s just a Christchurch Council thing. I think all councils are basket cases to varying degrees.

And I’m talking about elected councillors here. I’m not having a go at the people who work at the council.

So, Mayor Phil Mauger and his team have been sitting around that council table together now for nearly 18 months. So they’re nearly halfway to the next election.

And going by these results, they are failing to deliver.

If you look at the results on the council website, there’s a summary page and all the stuff about the elected council’s performance is right down the bottom of the page.

You might strain your eyes a bit reading it —because it’s in pretty small font— but here are the key numbers. According to this latest residents satisfaction survey just 16% of people think the Christchurch City Council makes wise spending decisions; 18 % think the council provides value for money; and only 21% think the council operates in an open and transparent way.

Compared to last year’s survey, that’s a 1% increase in the number of people who think the council makes wise spending decisions.

A 2% decrease in the number of people who think the council provides value for money.

And a 1% drop in the number of people who think the council operates in an open and transparent way.

Now I know the movement in percentages is small. But, when you’re talking about approval results of around 20% or less, then that’s pretty dismal. Remembering too, that building trust and confidence was right up there on the to-do list for this current council.

The thing is, though, is the public’s lack of faith in the mayor and the councillors just a Christchurch thing? Or is it indicative of what’s happening everywhere?

I think it’s local government in general. Because I’ve had a look around at some of the results other councils have got from their public satisfaction surveys, and they’re not great either.

Just yesterday, there was a report saying there is “profound concern” in Queenstown and Wanaka at the way the Queenstown Lakes District Council is performing.

Eighty percent of people aren’t happy with the council, in general. And 81% aren’t happy with the way councillors are doing their job. It’s the fifth year in a row that satisfaction with the local council has dropped.

Another example of how broken the local government model is.

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