Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has requested advice on potential interventions at Wellington City Council following a vote last week by the council to stop the controversial sale of its 34% share in the airport.
The vote means the council will need to amend its long-term plan and cut up to $600 million in capital spending to create additional debt headroom to respond to insurance risks.
Herald Wellington issues reporter, and On the Tiles Local Edition host, Georgina Campbell told The Front Page that Mayor Tory Whanau has said in terms of those cuts, everything is on the table.
“She has outlined some of her bottom lines, or things that are non-negotiables for her. That’s the $1.8 billion investment in water infrastructure, the Golden Mile project, and selling the council’s social housing portfolio.”
[…] Whanau is confident the vote would not be damaging to her mayoralty and has described it instead as being a bit of a blow.
Snort.
She said she woke up the following morning and felt that a weight had been lifted off her shoulders realising in the past two weeks that things were no longer going her way.
Sure honey, sure.
This week, both Brown and Finance Minister Nicola Willis have commented on the saga, calling it a “shambles”.
Campbell said some strong language has been used – which highlights the seriousness of what is happening.
“It’s really not a good look to have to amend a long-term plan that the council has only voted on as recently as June and I think the most worrying thing is the ramifications of the spending cuts,” she said.
I admit I haven’t been following this particular saga particularly closely but here’s my take.
What I know is Tory’s pie-in-the-sky “long-term plan” is actually a 10-year plan (can you get any more socialist?) that was reliant on the shares being sold.
And since she now can’t sell the shares, her 10-year plan is screwed and she has to come up with something else. And she can’t come up with anything viable that doesn’t involve hiking up the rates.
Or, to put it another way, she went to the casino, made a huge bet and lost.
