Tauranga City Council is exploring options for how it will deliver water services for the next 30 years and will consult the community on any proposals alongside its next Annual Plan.
In line with central government’s Local Water Done Well policy direction, local councils are required to decide and consult on a proposed future model for delivering water services.
The model is required to be included in a Water Services Delivery Plan, which will set out how Council plans to deliver services in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible, while allocating enough money for future upgrades to keep pace with our growing city’s needs.
At the 9 December meeting, a business case was presented to the Mayor and Councillors outlining the options for consideration.
Council confirmed it will seek community feedback on three options. These will include council’s current delivery model (the status quo), as well as its preferred options of establishing a jointly-owned, two-water or three-water council-controlled organisation (CCO) involving another council or councils that would achieve mutual benefits, or a standalone Tauranga City Council CCO which would also cover stormwater.
A CCO is an entity that is controlled by a local authority, or multiple local authorities. CCOs are governed by their own boards but are still accountable to the council or councils that control them. A CCO was identified as the preferred option, based on several criteria including financial sustainability and the opportunity to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
In addition to looking at potential partners in the wider Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions, Council will continue working with Western Bay of Plenty District Council to progress the option of establishing a jointly-owned CCO.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale says this is a big decision for our community.
"Council has heard loud and clear from the community in the past that water assets must stay in council ownership and under local government control. We want to assure people that this won’t change," says Mahé.
"Like other councils, our challenge is that an up-to-date waters network is going to be expensive."
Mahé says that, over time, the cost of delivering water services across New Zealand will increase, regardless of any changes to service delivery models. The ongoing challenge for Tauranga will be to meet the requirements for water regulation while providing financially sustainable future waters services in a growth city.
"Whatever we do, we want to manage those costs for our community as best we can.
"I understand there will be concern about the loss of control in creating a CCO and working with partners, which we will be looking to provide greater clarity around, but there are also some real advantages.
"Everyone will continue to receive the same great quality drinking water and they’ll still be able to do everything they do now.
"A CCO would provide some improvements around efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery, improving our already quality water services. It will also enable Council to increase its other debt capacity, which would mean we could borrow more to invest in infrastructure upgrades where they are needed," says Mahé.
Engagement on the waters options will continue with iwi partners and other stakeholders and the community will be asked for feedback alongside the draft Annual Plan consultation from late-March 2025.
If a decision is made to change the current water service delivery model, based on community feedback, any change to council’s delivery services structure would take effect from July 2026.
"Whatever delivery model we adopt, this plan is intended to ensure our community will always have access to clean, safe and reliable Council-controlled water services," adds Mahé.
For more information, head to letstalk.tauranga.govt.nz/localwaterdonewell