Proposed changes by Local Government Minister Rodney Hide might aim to make things more simple, but Otago Regional Council chief executive Graeme Martin does not think so.
The council's finance and corporate committee this week considered a report on the proposed changes to the Local Government Act announced by Mr Hide last month.
At the time, Mr Hide said the reforms were about local government focusing on core functions, managing within a defined budget, and adopting transparent and accountable decision-making processes.
Changes included simplifying council planning by merging the community outcomes process into the long-term council community planning process and requiring councils to provide plain English financial and pre-election reports.
Mr Martin said while the aim was to simplify, the changes seemed to indicate "more work, more auditing, more process".
Proposed inter-council comparisons had been a "serious disaster story" in other countries and would prove extremely difficult for regional councils as there were so few, he said.
"The cost and time involved to set up and deliver all adds to costs for initially no added gain."
Cr Bryan Scott said the pre-election reports would make elections more interesting.
"If it spices things up at election times, it can't be all that bad."
Corporate services director Wayne Scott said the proposals had more of emphasis on "building things" but did not include within core services areas like economic, social and community development.
However, that did not mean councils could not do those things.
Chairman Stephen Cairns said it was "truly bizarre" that while preservation of culture and heritage was a core service, economic and social development was not.
Mr Hide hoped to introduce the legislation to Parliament before Christmas.
Advertisement
