Successes found in challenging year for council

An “explosion of costs” hasn’t stopped council staff from doing an “amazing job” at keeping the proposed rates increase low, says Nelson City Council’s chief executive Nigel Philpott.

Inflation, interest and insurance rates, and depreciation costs have gone “through the roof”, creating one of the most challenging Long Term Plans to put together in years.

“Everybody wants everything, and nobody wants to pay rates, and that’s the challenge,” Nigel says. “Finding the right balance.”

A business-as-usual approach to council services could have seen a rates hike of over 30 per cent.

Nigel says staff have had “a hell of a lot of work” going through 4500 budget lines to cut costs without cutting back services “too much”. The council is proposing an 8.2 per cent rates increase along with a $330 annual charge for each household over the next ten years to help fund the August 2022 storm recovery.

With much of the Long Term Plan work now done, Nigel says his focus for the next three years will now shift to transforming the council.

“I really want to transform this organisation and the way we work, the way we operate, the way we deliver services.”

Lowering workplace stress for staff, efficiently delivering core services, and keeping in tune with the community are just some of the results he wants to see for the council.

It appears that Nigel has already begun to leave his mark, despite being chief executive for only eight months.

A staff survey before he was hired revealed “a number of issues” that needed addressing, but now initial responses from a recent survey are providing “really nice feedback”.

“We’re continuing to work on the workplace stress and slowly but surely improving conditions for staff,” Nigel says, though not “quick enough for my liking”.

The council has also made several achievements this year that he says are worth celebrating, including signing the “outstanding” agreement between the region’s iwi and councils, the “brave” decision to transition away from commercial forestry.

But challenges remain going forward for Nelson City Council, including the future of the ‘dark and dingy’, earthquake-prone Civic House, the Elma Turner Library which is ‘limping’ along, and reinvigorating the central city. Nigel says the planned summit in March will provide a “really critical” to explore how council, businesses and the community can best meet Nelson’s need for the next decade.

“It’s going to be thinking about ‘What is the role for council in re-energising the city?’ We don’t do it all, but we facilitate,” he says.