The comments came up during a debate about proposed expenditure on Three Waters, for its 2024-25 annual plan, at a council meeting yesterday.
Uncertainty about Three Waters infrastructure and transport funding has spurred the council to defer preparation of its long-term plan by a year, splitting consultation between both a nine-year 2025-34 and a 2024-25 annual plan.
Investment in Three Waters, which includes drinking, waste and stormwater infrastructure, is the largest contributor to a rates hike of 17.5%, and 19.4% for residential property owners.
Nonetheless, the motion to approve the draft budget was carried unanimously.
Mayor Jules Radich said pressure and intense regulation had been put on all councils across the country by the government to bring water quality up to standard.
But Cr Lee Vandervis said he was "especially unhappy" Three Waters would push the council further into significant debt.
"I think that central government quite frankly can be happily ignored to some degree.
"They’ve got their own agendas they want to duck-shove responsibility and make sure that any Havelock North issues is nothing to do with them and we told you so."
It was his understanding that Dunedin’s water quality was better than other cities, and the city had a "very adequate" water supply due to the loss of many industries that used water, such as the Burnside freezing works, Green Island tannery and the Cadbury’s factory.
Cr Vandervis said he would vote on the motion nonetheless, as the council had no opportunity to change anything.
Several councillors took exception to his remarks, the first being Cr Christine Garey.
"I remind my colleague who has just spoken that he’s entitled to his own opinions, but he’s not entitled to his own facts.
"I find it extraordinary that a governor of this council would say we should ignore [water regulator] Taumata Arowai and the compliance that we are bound to observe."
The council had a lot of high-cost work, which should not come as a surprise, she said.
While Cr Kevin Gilbert said he was very new to the political table, he felt confident central government was "not to be ignored and is not allowed to be ignored", he said.
Cr Steve Walker suggested Cr Vandervis do "a little bit of homework" on Taumata Arowai and the national policy statements the council was bound by.
"That homework probably wouldn’t go amiss."
Cr Sophie Barker highlighted that the council had held its water charges to below $2 per cubic metre, and this was now below the break-even cost to provide the service.
Cr Bill Acklin said the biggest problem with the Three Waters spend was the council was not charging for water services, when it needed to.
He questioned whether a targeted rate was the best way to cover the cost, and this needed to be considered once consultation on the long-term plan started.
The council needed an indication of how much ratepayers would be willing to pay for their water services going forward, he said.
Mr Radich confirmed the council could not, in fact, ignore the central government.
"Cr Vandervis imagines that we can ignore the regulator.
"He is wrong. We cannot. It is as simple as that."
He was astonished someone could point out flaws in the system while imagining they could be repaired "magically, for nothing".
"We cannot sit by and allow the problems that we do have in the water system ... and hope that they’ll fix themselves, or claim that some previous council should have fixed them."
