By Krystal Gibbens and Mary Argue of RNZ
Finance Minister Nicola Willis is doubling down on calling Wellington City Council a "shambles", despite her colleague's meeting with the city's mayor.
The council has to find a way to fill a huge budget hole of at least $400 million, after a decision last week not to sell its airport shares.
Mayor Tory Whanau said there was no talk of government intervention during her talk with Local Government Minister Simeon Brown at Parliament this morning.
"As previously mentioned, I have requested advice on whether the situation warrants government intervention and am expecting that advice in coming days."
Whanau told RNZ she hoped the rhetoric from ministers, saying the council is a "shambles" and "shemozzle", didn't continue.
But Willis reiterated her comments today.
"It's a shambles at the council and it's really important it be delivering for Wellingtonians who are facing some of the biggest rate rises in the country, who have shared with me their growing levels of frustration about a council that has seemed more focussed on itself and its own internal battles than the needs of people here in Wellington."
Willis said she wasn't a TAB agent and wouldn't give odds on any government intervention.
Following today's meeting, Whanau said the conversation was polite and friendly and was mainly about her giving an update on the city council.
She said she would not legally challenge the government if it decided to appoint a Crown Observer.
"I don't believe we've met the threshold for an observer or commissioner. However, I understand the concerns that have occurred as a result of last week."
If an observer was appointed, she would accept Brown's decision.
"I will live with it, and I will work in good faith with him to move forward."
She said she understood that the government had concerns but the council was committed to running a successful Long-Term Plan.
She told media Brown did not express any concerns to her about the council.
"I acknowledge that the decision around Wellington Airport was a tough one for all of us."
The mayor said there had been a lot of attention on her council in recent days and reiterated her belief the council had not met the threshold of government intervention.
"There was certainly no decision on government intervention today."
The meeting was requested by Whanau in order to be "proactive" and update Brown on progress made by the council on its Long-Term Plan.
Councillor Tony Randle told reporters he was open to a Crown Observer being appointed to oversee the council, but a Commissioner would be "too far."
"The councillors are trying very hard to work together and we've got a new Long-Term Plan to pull together, but I don't think that we're going to do a terrible job."
Randle said it was Simeon Brown's decision. "He's trying to judge what's right for Wellington."
"We've tripped up a few times, and for that you get put on detention don't you."
But when the Prime Minister is making comments, that's a "shot across the bow."
"If we mess up one more time, it certainly will happen."
Council met on Wednesday
On Wednesday, councillors met behind closed doors to discuss how its Long-Term Plan (LTP) could be amended.
After councillors had previously called for government intervention and expressed a lack of faith in the mayor, most presented a more united front yesterday, telling the media they were confident they could find a way forward.
Ben McNulty said there had been an agreement around the table from councillors of what they now needed to look at.
"I would probably classify it as the most productive meeting we've had as city councillors in this triennium.
"I think there was a lack of ego in the room for once."
Most items would be on the table, but water funding was one of the big exceptions.
McNulty said a plan had not yet been formed, but an approach on a path going forward would be taken to Brown.
He maintained that any government intervention from there would be straight politics.
Iona Pannett said the council had not actually broken the law.
"I've been a councillor for a long time, we've had lots of big arguments, this is not the first or the last one," she said.
"We have not broken the law. There's actually no reason for intervention.
"We've made a call and now we're going to make another call."
Meanwhile, Ray Chung would rather have an election than government intervention. He has already put his name forward for the job.
He was not convinced having a Crown observer would solve the problem.
"What would it result in if this observer came and sat at the back of the room and sort of looked at how things went? What does that actually change?"
Whanau said yesterday's meeting had been "very productive".
She said the vote against selling airport shares meant the council was now moving forward to develop a LTP amendment that would address it insurance risk due to earthquakes and climate change disasters.
"A bottom line for me as we move forward is that we address this insurance challenge without increasing rates further. I also want to assure the public that, as we go through this process, I do not intend to cut projects that are critical for our city's growth and sustainability.
"For me, that means protecting our social housing, and continuing funding for water and key climate initiatives.
"We agreed that we must address our insurance risk. An important step towards this is to reduce our debt consistently over the course of the next 10 years so that we achieve $500 million of debt headroom in the case of a disaster. We will be working together to identify where these reductions will come from."
She said councillors had a "shared commitment" to "investigate the sale of ground leases and carbon credit holdings to form the basis of a fund (or other insurance mechanism) that can offer both returns and form of self-insurance to council and would grow over time".
Whanau said the previous proposal to create a self-insurance fund was widely supported by councillors, even if the sale of airport shares was not.
"None of the decisions ahead of us are easy, but a majority of councillors and pouiwi support this approach and are committed to doing what is right for our city."
