The Government published new performance metrics on Thursday, which include figures on council rates revenue, debt and staff costs.
Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton said he sees value in the reports for transparency and comparison.
“I like that the Government is doing this, and I think it’s good that communities can really transparently see how councils are performing."
Councils have shared these details with their communities previously, but this information is provided in one space, against everyone else’s data, he said.
“Comparison to our neighbours is important, it’s interesting, and people want to know what is going on here compared to next door.”
Like Broughton, Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown said the information had already been reported to the community as part of a long-term plan, annual plan and reports.
“None of this will be new to our residents.”
Local Government Minister Simon Watts said the Government performance metrics report gives clear facts and figures directly into the hands of ratepayers.
“Communities can now compare how much their council spends on core essentials like infrastructure and see whether their rates are going up more than average.”
However, Broughton said the report is just numbers - and “not all the numbers”.
He also noted that councils don’t have a standard way of measuring the data, and the new annual reports may start a shift towards standardisation of council measurement.
Selwyn and Ashburton are grouped in the small metros and large provincial councils, which have a huge range in population and geography, Broughton said.
The group median for population is 57,650, and land area of 2,391km2.
Ashburton has a population of 36,800 and 6,181km2, while Selwyn - the fastest growing district in the country - is at 85,200 and 6,381km2.
Broughton said the rates increase data doesn’t show the dollar amounts, just the percentage.
He explained that if two councils' rates both went up by $100, “those with slightly cheaper rates will have a higher percentage”.
“Compared to our neighbours and other high-growth councils such as Tauranga and Queenstown-Lakes, Selwyn's rates remain low”.
For Selwyn, 81% of its expenditure is on roading and three waters, “really in line with what the Government and our community feedback continues to request us to focus on”.
Ashburton's mayor said the profile gave an overall impression of a council solidly delivering its core services.
“All councils provide services that are similar, like wastewater and roads, but we all have geographical and social differences to deal with," Brown said.
“In Ashburton, the average high capital value household pays about $76 a week in rates or $305 a month, which is about the same as the monthly power bill.
“Those rates give you drinking water, wastewater, roads, rubbish collection, parks, libraries and a whole lot more.
“The DIA grouping actually highlights how different each council is, so comparisons can be difficult, however, these benchmarking reports are all about transparency, and we are up for that," Brown said.
By Jonathan Leask, Local Democracy Reporter
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
