The long-awaited decision comes after two reports were released, one by the commission showing a large deficit for the small unitary council many local northern Rodney residents want to be set up.
Morrison Low suggested that based on Auckland City Council figures a North Rodney Unitary Council would have a deficit of $13.5 million, meaning rates would need to increase by 48%.
But the Northern Action Group (NAG) commissioned its own report from APR Consultants benchmarking the proposed council with the three unitary councils in New Zealand that were most similar, Tasman, Marlborough and Gisborne.
That found the operating position could anything from a $5.5m deficit to a $5m surplus.
“This was not intended to be a budget but just to show a north Rodney council would be viable,” NAG chairman Bill Townson told a meeting organised by Auckland Federated Farmers in Wellsford on Wednesday night to hear farmers’ views.
NAG had already indicated that if the decision was negative it would look at legal action.
And it had received support from deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters for a binding referendum on the issue, though a law change would be required.
There was plenty of criticism of the super city from local farmers at the meeting who said they believed their businesses’ needs were not understood by the council and its staff.
Wellsford farmer Gordon Levet said the old Rodney council had worked well.
“I don’t believe that bigger is better in a monopoly situation like local government,” he said.
“Our personal contact has been lost.”
If the north Rodney area went its own way local residents were prepared for the consequences, good or bad.
“We’ll live with it.”
Tapora farmer Julie Cotton said when it came to giving Auckland council a rating a year after local body elections “I give it a fail big time”.
Local people were being treated like dots on a map.
“This is about ignorance and arrogance and I find it rude to the core,” she said.
“Rural people are good people and we don’t want much. But we’re paying the lion’s share of rates and getting nothing. Where does fairness and equity step in?”
Warkworth farmer Dean Blythen said there had been a considerable drop in rates for farmers since joining Auckland.
“But I’m not saying we’re not seeing inefficiencies.”
There were numerous stories of several different groups of contractors travelling long distances to do maintenance previously dealt with by local firms.
Local board member and farmer Colin Smith said he was struggling with council processes when it came to getting local issues addressed.
“Kumeu or Warkworth are going to be satellite cities and that’s all the council cares about,” he said.
“Rural people shouldn’t be treated like this. It’s not working for our community. There’s got to be questioning of the brain power in the city when they’re not asking local people what they want.”
The whole basis of local government boundaries should be commonality of interest.
Auckland Federated Farmers’ meat and fibre chairman Bruce Parris said farmers were being treated as cash cows.
“We see more sections and more houses being built on our roads and we’re lucky to get a grader twice a year and recycling every two weeks,” he said.
“And when we hear of the business class travel by Auckland council staff we get brassed off. It’s wrong.”
Alan Cole, vice-president of Auckland Federated Farmers and also a Franklin local board member, said costs had gone up just 1.1% since the super city had been formed and during that time the city’s population had increased by 100,000.
