Zardnaar
Deity
As the title says.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...verything-that-is-wrong-with-local-government
Here we have local councils and you pay rates to them if you own property.
Included in rent I suppose if you don't.
A lot of local government here is essentially non functional. We have 67 different councils with a population of 5 million.
Voter participation bus also rock bottom with very low turnouts. Those that do tend to be boomers and retired people.
In some cases the local business round table or old boys club runs the show. I remember my friends whose father was in the local business club basically chose the mayor who duly wins the election.
Some of you have seem me mention our housing crisis with 50% population growth over the last 30 years. They reformed the councils 30 odd years ago greater local autonomy etc.
This has resulted in keeping rates low despite aging infrastructure. Some cities have 100+ year old pipes for example. Rates pay for things like water, rubbish collection, parks etc.
In my city we literally have Victorian era drains and pipes. Successive councils in the country have kicked the can down the road keeping rates low (around $40-$50 a week).
Note capital gains in property have hit 20% some years. Tax free.
Anyway aging infrastructure +population growth has resulted in problems. They can't kick the can down the street any longer in some places with some cities having exploding sewage pipes one of them being the capital.
Penny pinching and outsourcing has resulted in a race to the bottom. In my city we had surface flooding in heavy rains as a sub contracting company did a half assed job cleaning the drains.
And I live in one if the better cities when it comes to local government. Apart from one toxic turd overall our council basically functions. But they're also kinda broke.
Central government is threatening to essentially fire the lot and appoint commissioners to run basic services as guess who is ultimately going to have to fund infrastructure? Or put rates up by 50%.
The local councils can also gum up resource consents NIMBYism is rife. What was intended to stop developers steam rolling locals like the USA gas resulted in needed development not happening.
Pretty capital just pray your pipes don't explode or there is an earthquake. Only 1 million dollars to live there.
CFC thoughts?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...verything-that-is-wrong-with-local-government
Here we have local councils and you pay rates to them if you own property.
Included in rent I suppose if you don't.
A lot of local government here is essentially non functional. We have 67 different councils with a population of 5 million.
Voter participation bus also rock bottom with very low turnouts. Those that do tend to be boomers and retired people.
In some cases the local business round table or old boys club runs the show. I remember my friends whose father was in the local business club basically chose the mayor who duly wins the election.
Some of you have seem me mention our housing crisis with 50% population growth over the last 30 years. They reformed the councils 30 odd years ago greater local autonomy etc.
This has resulted in keeping rates low despite aging infrastructure. Some cities have 100+ year old pipes for example. Rates pay for things like water, rubbish collection, parks etc.
In my city we literally have Victorian era drains and pipes. Successive councils in the country have kicked the can down the road keeping rates low (around $40-$50 a week).
Note capital gains in property have hit 20% some years. Tax free.
Anyway aging infrastructure +population growth has resulted in problems. They can't kick the can down the street any longer in some places with some cities having exploding sewage pipes one of them being the capital.
Penny pinching and outsourcing has resulted in a race to the bottom. In my city we had surface flooding in heavy rains as a sub contracting company did a half assed job cleaning the drains.
And I live in one if the better cities when it comes to local government. Apart from one toxic turd overall our council basically functions. But they're also kinda broke.
Central government is threatening to essentially fire the lot and appoint commissioners to run basic services as guess who is ultimately going to have to fund infrastructure? Or put rates up by 50%.
The local councils can also gum up resource consents NIMBYism is rife. What was intended to stop developers steam rolling locals like the USA gas resulted in needed development not happening.
Pretty capital just pray your pipes don't explode or there is an earthquake. Only 1 million dollars to live there.
CFC thoughts?
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That is a bit of an exaggeration. "Local government" is not uniform across a state, or states. State governments are more uniform. State and local governments do not always get along or agree on what is best. They (and the feds too) often have different goals for a community. The question usually comes down to: who knows what is best for a community (small, medium or large)? The people living there? The people in the largest metro areas? People who do not live in the state at all? Somebody else?
