Carterton Mayor Ron Mark believes that small communities will struggle to survive the government’s water supply reforms and must collaborate to reduce costs. He urges neighboring municipalities to cease opposing mergers, arguing that there is no place for “fiefdoms going their own way” in the future.Carterton Mayor Ron Mark believes that small communities will struggle to survive the government’s water supply reforms and must collaborate to reduce costs. He urges neighboring municipalities to cease opposing mergers, arguing that there is no place for “fiefdoms going their own way” in the future. Despite disagreements over the merger concept, the three mayors of Wairarapa—Carterton, Masterton, and South Wairarapa—have recently clashed. South Wairarapa Mayor Martin Connelly dismisses Mark’s ideas as “very unfounded,” claiming that smaller councils than Carterton can operate effectively on their own. Mark contends that the reforms will result in municipalities divesting water assets and establishing municipally controlled organizations. He questions whether Carterton can survive if it loses water services revenue and asks if Wairarapa can afford to maintain separate administrative structures. The joint submission from the three Wairarapa councils to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Water Services Bill raises the possibility of amalgamation. The submission acknowledges that joint arrangements may lead to further questions about merging authorities. Mark emphasizes the need to reduce administrative costs to control tariff increases. The Wairarapa councils have requested an extension until July 1, 2026, to develop a plan for water service provision. Masterton Mayor Gary Caffell believes Masterton can operate independently after water services are removed, but warns of potential cost implications unless service levels are reduced. He remains open to the possibility of amalgamation if it can benefit smaller districts like Wairarapa. Caffell believes that consolidating administrative functions and services can lead to reduced duplication and lower overall costs. However, he prioritizes addressing water management and hopes for a less restrictive timeframe from the government.
Carterton Mayor Ron Mark says small communities will not survive the government’s water supply reforms and must work together to reduce costs.
He urged his neighbouring municipalities to stop fighting mergers and said there was no room in the future for “fiefdoms going their own way”.
The three mayors of Wairarapa — Carterton, Masterton and South Wairarapa — have clashed recently over the idea of merging their councils.
This week, South Wairarapa Mayor Martin Connelly said Mark’s views were “very unfounded”.
“There are smaller councils than his that think they can do it in a very satisfactory way,” Connelly said.
“We are only at the beginning of the current reform process, and there is still much uncertainty and speculation about its consequences.
“So it’s still way too early to know what the long-term effects will be.”
Earlier this year, the Minister for Local Government outlined the next steps for proposed Local Waters Done Well legislation, which replaced the Three Waters Reform of the previous Labour-led government.
The new approach included a streamlined process for establishing council-controlled water services organisations, requirements for councils to develop plans for the delivery of water services, and steps towards future economic regulation.
Mark said that as a result of the reforms, municipalities were looking to divest their water assets and place them in municipally controlled organisations.
“If you take away the three waters clause, what does the council do? Roads, toilets, pubs, parks, brothels, vaping, gambling, all that regulatory stuff… can we survive? We won’t,” Mark said of his council.
“Can Wairarapa afford to have three mayors, chief executives, chief financial managers, up and coming staff, fiefdoms doing their own thing in the future? We can’t.
“If we are to have any hope of getting tariff increases under control after three water reforms, we will have to drastically reduce administrative costs.”
The possibility of amalgamation was raised in the joint submission from the three Wairarapa councils to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Water Services Bill.
“In order to reduce the risks and complexity to the level of the Wairarapa, it is possible that the decision we make on joint arrangements will lead to a range of further questions about the merger of our authorities,” the joint submission said.
“It is critical to us that we have clarity on the implications of spinning off our water assets for our ratepayers and whether this will result in stranded overheads which, combined with increased expectations for compliance and quality of water service delivery, will result in unacceptable costs to our communities.”
Municipal councils were asked to have a plan for the provision of water services by the end of June 2025.
The Wairarapa application requested an extension until July 1, 2026, “so that we have time to avoid having to apply for an extension, which would consume valuable resources, when we could have anticipated complexities, such as a merger, in advance”.
Masterton Mayor Gary Caffell said Masterton was large enough to stand on its own two feet after water services were taken out of the council, but “there will be a cost to ratepayers unless we significantly reduce our service levels”.
“We need to remain affordable for the communities we serve… if that means amalgamation, then we are certainly — as we have always been — open to the conversation, particularly if it can be demonstrated that amalgamation would benefit smaller districts like ours in the Wairarapa.”
This would be done by consolidating administrative functions and services, which would lead to less duplication and lower overall costs, he said.
“However, getting the water management in order is the highest priority and we hope that the government will heed our call for a less restrictive time frame.”
LDR is a local journalism organisation co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
