Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull is that new president - he was voted in to head Local Government New Zealand late last month - and he says collecting rates from homeowners and charging for services is no longer a sustainable model.
Mr Cull won the presidency of the organisation that represents the country's 78 councils, a group he says controls close to $20billion of infrastructure.
He saw off his only competitor, Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese, to take over from Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule, who is now a National Party candidate.
Mr Cull is the first Dunedin head of the organisation that was formed in 1988 in the face of pending local government reform.
This week he told the Otago Daily Times about his new role, and what he hoped to achieve.
The president's role was described recently by LGNZ chief executive Malcolm Alexander as ``a governance role, chief representative and chief media spokesperson for the organisation''.
Mr Cull is chairman of a national council of LGNZ's 15-member national council, a group that includes Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, Wellington Mayor Justin Lester and Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel.
He is also chairman of the organisation's governance and strategy group.
He said the role involved regular meetings with government ministers - an example was a meeting held last week with Environment Minister Nick Smith to discuss minimum rental housing standards.
Mr Cull won the role after seven years as a member of LGNZ's national council, where he rose to the role of vice-president.
During that time, he came to appreciate the issues the organisation dealt with were council issues, he said.
But working on those matters from a council perspective meant working within set parameters and rules.
From an LGNZ president's perspective ``you're actually interacting with central government about the rules''.
That meant there was a chance to change, challenge or reorder things, improving councils' abilities to meet challenges.
One of the big issues facing local government - funding infrastructure - was whether it was new infrastructure for the likes of housing developments, or renewing items such as water treatment plants in small communities.
``For quite a long time'' funding had been through rates and charges.
``What LGNZ is saying to the Government is that is not a sustainable model any more.
``That's proven by the fact the growth-councils like Hamilton and Tauranga and Auckland are saying `we've reached our debt levels'.''
However, Mr Cull said everybody knew councils needed to be putting in more ``very expensive'' infrastructure to allow more housing development because of the country's shortage of homes.
``What we're saying is we need to develop new funding mechanisms.''
There had already been a call for GST from tourism, or a border levy, so international visitors provided some of the funding for tourism infrastructure.
At a local council level, those sort of issues could not be changed; however, the combined voice of all councils might result in a better outcome, Mr Cull said.
Asked what he hoped to achieve in the role, he said as president he was keen to continue ``stating more assertively local government's place in the governance of the country''.
Councils owned about $20billion worth of infrastructure, not far short of what the Crown owned.
However local government had no constitutional place in New Zealand, and could be removed ``in the stroke of a vote''.
He also wanted to drive decision-making towards the communities affected by it.
``A tremendous amount of decision-making that affects local communities is made in Wellington.''
Mr Cull said he wanted to better engage with the 78 councils who were members of the organisation.
Two big issues being ramped up were water and climate change, ``and they're connected''.
They could involve the quality of river water or storm water, quantity of water, iwi rights or funding of infrastructure.
The issues, as had been seen during national elections, were ``huge, and they're comprehensive''.
``The appreciation of the need to pick up our game around water and climate change is right across the community, not just local government.''
Asked about his ability to juggle his two roles, and whether he would have less time to concentrate on Dunedin issues, he said he was yet to get a full understanding of how much time the president's role would take.
It would involve more visits to Wellington, although he did some meetings by teleconference.
``It will mean more time out of Dunedin, there's no doubt about that.
``But the mayoral job is a seven-day-a-week job anyway.''
Asked if he had time for both, Mr Cull said within LGNZ he would asking the 14 other members of the national council to do some of the work.
As with the city council ``it doesn't have to be the mayor representing the council on every occasion''.
``If I accepted every invitation I wouldn't sleep.
``I can't do everything I'm asked or invited to do in any case.
``I'm used to prioritising.''
He said the role could also bring benefits to Dunedin.
``I can't see that it does any harm to Dunedin to have the mayor of the city with a national role and a national profile.
``I think it can rebound to our benefit.''
