Christchurch debt still hampers Selwyn amalgamation discussions

A greater Christchurch merger remains on the table, despite concerns over Christchurch's debt, Selwyn Mayor Lydia Gliddon says.

Councils have less than a month left to put forward plans to the government under its amalgamation ultimatum

On Wednesday, Selwyn councillors decided to continue investigating three options - Selwyn becoming a unitary authority, amalgamation with Ashburton, and a greater Christchurch amalgamation between Selwyn, Christchurch and Waimakariri, with the possible inclusion of Hurunui and/or Kaikōura.

Gliddon said Selwyn District Council was open to all options and it was ultimately a choice for ratepayers.

"We're not set in stone," she said. "The only thing, I think this is the bottom line, is that Selwyn remains whole as it is on its own and not chopped up into pieces.

"All three of those options do that and so now it's up to our community to tell us what their preferred option is.

"There's still the opportunity our community might tell us they don't want us to do this at all and we could not put a proposal in. That's still a viable option as well."

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said there was general consensus Canterbury needed to respond to the government's reforms.

"One thing that everyone's clear about is that we need to have a proposal on the table," he said. "Not all councils might be happy with it, but we'll put in a proposal, because we need to be at the bargaining table, so to speak."

During Wednesday meeting, Selwyn councillors repeatedly questioned what the district stood to gain from joining Christchurch, pointing to the city's significantly higher debt levels.

Gliddon agreed Christchurch's debt was a concern.

"Look, there's a big difference between $2 billion and $200 million, and we hear from our community they don't like our debt profile and we're trying to pay down what we can," she said. "These are really important considerations to take into what these mergers might look like and how that affects our people.

"Often with a merger, they talk about harmonisation of costs over time and that would potentially happen, and is that the right thing for our community?"

Despite concerns, Gliddon said the greater Christchurch merger option must remain on the table.

"We recognise people through the survey told us they didn't want a merger with Christchurch, but we've got to capture the data," she said. "We've never actually fully put that on the table, so we need to get the data and actually that will help inform our proposal as well."

Mauger believed a greater Christchurch amalgamation had merit, but accepted neighbouring councils might choose a different path.

"The way it will be put forward, I think, will be Christchurch will be the size it is, but our evidence actually tells us that it makes sense to be a bit bigger," he said.

"If we're not getting the buy-in from our neighbours - and that's fine, they're allowed to do what they like - we'll leave it up to the minister to decide."

Gliddon said joining Christchurch in a merger held some advantages.

"You could talk about scale, there's ratepayer base, we're going to have to partner together on a few things anyway, use public transport as an example," she said.

"I think it becomes really difficult, there's so much to sort out in this space. I'm trying to be more focused on actually how do we deliver the regional functions that we're going to be left with after the RMA reform.

"To me, that is the problem that we are trying to solve here. I don't think we are the problem."

Mauger also pointed to services, such as public transport, as an area where councils would continue working together, regardless of the final structure.

"If Christchurch is a unitary and we run the buses, when the buses go across the boundary, we will charge for the small amount of money it takes to get the bus out to wherever it stops," he said. "I've talked to the other two and they said, 'Yeah, that's fair enough'."

Gliddon said a survey, put out to residents on Thursday, would be open for 10 days.

"It's not the way that we would generally like to consult with our community and it goes against a lot of the principles that we have, and that's quite difficult as well, but we've recognised that community input is key to this," she said.

The government's three-month timeframe for councils to decide on amalgamation plans was challenging and frustrating, Gliddon said.

"If we had the two years we initially thought, I think we would be in quite a different space and have some different options on the table. Unfortunately, we're working with what we've got, and we believe that Selwyn should be the maker and shaper of its own destiny."

Mauger said councils were still waiting for the government to confirm exactly which regional council responsibilities would transfer under the reforms.

"We don't really know what the playing field is yet," he said.