NSCC oral submission presented to select committee today
Strong local political representation, all councillors on the new Auckland Council to be elected by wards, and no asset sales were the main themes of the North Shore City Council submission to the Auckland governance select committee today.
Mayor Andrew Williams told the committee that North Shore ratepayers had made it very clear that they did not want vital services such as water supply privatised as a result of the Government-driven amalgamation of eight Auckland councils.
Over the past two weeks, the North Shore City Council’s Colmar Brunton survey has asked the opinions of 800 ratepayers spread evenly across the North Shore.
The council commissioned the survey to gauge and quantify public opinion in preparation for the presentation of the council submission.
The survey showed that 89% of North Shore ratepayers supported continued public ownership of water supplies.
When respondents were asked about the political structure of the new Auckland Council, 80% wanted all councillors to be elected by ward rather than at large.
A substantial 81% believed that the new Auckland Council should focus on Auckland-wide issues, leaving the Local Boards to make important decisions at community level.
The survey results, said Mayor Williams, are clearly aligned with the council’s submission, and reflect the views already expressed by the community in public meetings.
“In our written submission, we emphasised that all 20 Auckland Councillors should be elected by wards, that local community councils should be bulk funded and have real powers, clearly defined in law. We also said that publicly owned assets should not be sold.”
The North Shore City Council also told the select committee that the proposed powers of the Mayor of the new Auckland Council should be reduced, and asked that the Government review its position on Maori representation in the new council.
Mayor Williams said that the survey results showed that the views on the formation of the new Auckland Council were polarised, with 14% strongly in favour and 14% strongly opposed. Overall, 47% were in favour of the new council and 36% opposed. Sixteen percent had no opinion.
Overall, respondents raised concerns about a number of issues. The most common themes were a loss of local identity and influence, the speed of change and lack of consultation, and the risk of increased costs under the new structure.
Those who supported the reforms said that it was time for a change and many said that they expected faster and better decision-making processes as a result.
Mayor Williams said that the survey of 800 North Shore ratepayers was undertaken because his council wanted an unbiased assessment of the views of the community.
“Since the Government plan for Auckland was announced, our councillors and staff have actively sought the community’s views, attending meetings and listening to public opinion through personal conversations, and through the news media.
“We also went through a wide public consultation process when we prepared the original submission to the Royal Commission in 2007/2008
“We felt that we had enough understanding of the community’s views to be able to prepare our recent submission to the select committee, but the survey enabled us to quantify public opinion in a way which we had not previously been able to do.
“As a result, when we spoke to the select committee today, we were confident in the knowledge that our council was presenting the views of the majority of our ratepayers and that it offers realistic and practical recommendations for the Select Committee to consider.”
North Shore City Council
Ratepayers Survey Findings
PREPARED FOR North Shore City Council
ATTENTION Rob Pitney
ISSUE DATE 9th July 2009
CONTACT[S] Karen Tews, Beth Rundle
Methodology
Telephone interviews were carried out with North Shore Council ratepayers between 2nd and 8th July 2009. Sample telephone numbers were randomly selected from White Pages by suburb.
Minimum quotas of 250 in each of the 3 wards were set. Age quotas were also set, to ensure a good spread of respondent types.
Sample
A total of 801 interviews were achieved. This size sample has a margin of error of +/-3.46% at a 95% confidence level.
The total results were weighted by ward, based on figures supplied by North Shore City Council, as follows: Northern=44.4%, Central =30.2% and Harbour=25.4%.
47% of respondents were male and 53% female. Ages of respondents were: 35% Under 44 years, 43% aged 45-54 years and 22% 65+ years.
Results
Questions asked and the results for total sample are shown in this report, together with comments where there are statistically significant differences by age or income.
There were no statistically significant differences on any question by ward.
North Shore Ratepayers Survey | 109101222
Good evening my name is…………….. From Colmar Brunton and tonight we are conducting a short 5 minute survey among North Shore City Council ratepayers. Can I please first ask if your household are North Shore City ratepayers? CLOSE IF NOT
May I please speak to a ratepayer in your household who is aged 18 or over and who has the next birthday?
We are conducting a 5 minute survey on behalf of North Shore City Council who would value your opinion in reference to the restructuring of Auckland. IF HAPPY TO CONTINUE CHECK QUOTAS BY WARD AND AGE
We need to ensure we speak to a representative sample of ratepayers. Firstly can I just check which suburb of north shore you live in?
CODE SEX
1. 47% Male
2. 53% Female
WARD
Northern 294 respondents
Central 256 respondents
Harbour 251 respondents
Which of the following age groups do you fall into?
35% Under 44 years
43% 45-54 years
22% 65+ years
As you may have heard in October next year, the government will combine the seven current city and district councils in greater Auckland, and the regional council, in to one new Auckland Council, or ‘Super City’.
Q1. From what you have read, seen or heard, how in favour or opposed are you feeling about the formation of the one Auckland Council? READ OUT
1. 14% strongly in favour
2 33% in favour
3 22% opposed
4 14% strongly opposed
5 16% no opinion
Higher income earners were more in favour than low earners. Among households earning over $100,000 there were 61% either strongly in favour or in favour. This compares to 47% among the total sample and just 25% among households earning less than $30,000.
Younger respondents are more likely than others to ‘have no opinion’. 22% of under 44 year olds said this, compared to 13% of both the older age groups.
Q2. Could you briefly outline why you feel that way? (PROBE)
A variety of comments were provided. The most common themes/concerns were:
Loss of local identity
Speed of change and lack of consultation/information
Reduced or increased bureaucracy/efficiency
Faster/better decision making
Increased costs/rates
Reduced local services
Loss of local decision making/representation
Time for a change
Q3. In terms of your democratic representation (that is your ability to influence council decision making) under the new Super City, do you think that you will be better off, worse off, or much the same
1. 11% better off
2 40% worse off
3 48% much the same
It is the lower income earners who are most concerned, with 53% of households earning under $30,000 thinking they will be worse off, compared to 33% of $100,000+ earners.
Q4. Various views have been expressed by people regarding the Auckland Super City. As I read out the following statements, please tell me if you; Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree or have no opinion ROTATE STATEMENTS
a. 89% Agree (52% Strongly Agree and 36% Agree) ‘The supply of water should remain in public council ownership and not be privatised.’
b. 85% Agree (38% Strongly Agree and 47% Agree) ‘Publicly owned strategic community assets such as the port and airport should remain in public council ownership under the new Super City.’
c. 81% Agree (31% Strongly Agree and 50% Agree) ‘The proposed new Auckland Council should focus on making decisions that affect the whole region.’
d. 80% Agree (34% Strongly Agree and 46% Agree) ‘All of the councillors on the new Auckland Council should be elected by people in their local area (that is ‘by Ward’) rather than elected by people across the whole region (that is ‘At Large’)’
There was a significant difference by income level in response to Q4a. ‘ The proposed new Auckland Council should focus on making decisions that affect the whole region’. 88% of $100,000+ households agreed versus 69% of under $30,000 households.
Low income earners were more likely than others to agree with Q4d ‘ All of the councillors on the new Auckland Council should be elected by people in their local area (that is ‘by Ward’) rather than elected by people across the whole region (that is ‘At Large’)’
94% of respondents with household income under $30,000 agreed to this, compared to 75% of top income earners.
READ OUT: Under the new Auckland council 20 to 30 local boards will be formed to represent local citizens and provide local services. These local boards will replace existing councils and community boards. Again please tell me if you Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree or Strongly Disagree or have no opinion with the following. ROTATE STATEMENTS
e. 88% Agree (37% Strongly Agree and 51% Agree) ‘The new local boards should be responsible for and have money to fund local services such as libraries, parks and community services.’
f. 87% Agree (32% Strongly Agree and 55% Agree) ‘The new local boards should have the ability to make important decisions at a community level.’
Top earners were a little more likely to disagree than others with Q4e ‘The new local boards should be responsible for and have money to fund local service such as libraries, parks and community services’. 12% of them disagreed, compared to only 2% of the lowest income respondents.
Explanation of Terms
Margin of Error:
The sample of 801 has a margin of error of +/-3.46% at the 95% confidence level. This means that we can be 95% confident that if we asked a different 800 respondents the responses given would be within 3.46 percentage points of the responses given here.
Statistically Significant:
Differences are statistically significant if the variance between them is greater than the margin of error.
Notes
Due to rounding percentages do not always add to 100%.