Water users across Otago have been warned to adhere closely to their resource consent conditions to ensure river levels, which have again dwindled to low levels, do not drop any further.
The budget for Queenstown's "chronic" water and wastewater system is expected to blow out by $800,000 this financial year, to the concern of councillors.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council is spending about $70,000 every month on faults to Queenstown's ageing water supply network.
There appears to be support among Dunedin's city councillors to try for a substantial reduction in forecast rates at today's annual plan meeting.
Auckland Regional Council has been ticked off for getting it badly wrong when it hosted football superstar David Beckham and his LA Galaxy team in a demonstration game which turned into a financial disaster.
The Dunedin City Council is expecting best-practice governance from the Otago Rugby Football Union in return for its decision to underwrite the union's debt for the next three years.
Dunedin city councillors will today open the city's accounts, beginning what is bound to be a contentious process of setting both the budget, and the annual rates increase.
The Dunedin City Council might have spent more than $200,000 on severance payments in a year, but figures from the Wellington City Council have tipped the scales.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin is digging in and refusing to say why he ruled out formal action against a wayward city councillor, amid accusations of favouritism that could prompt a council challenge.
Public Health South officials have asked for more soil tests to be carried out at a property in Selwyn St, Northeast Valley, found to be contaminated by lead.
The latest Southland District Council property valuations show the value of property in Southland has increased $5 billion in three years.
The Waitaki District Council has joined the Clutha District Council in rejecting a Ministry of Health claim that its water supplies were contaminated and the council neglected to adequately protect consumers.
Local body political grouping Greater Dunedin has begun its electioneering for next year with an attack on the city council of which it is a part.
Concern about the "huge challenge" the Otago Regional Council could face as a consent authority because of the Project Hayes decision has led it to plan lodging an appeal with the Environment Court.
The time has come for Otago and Southland's regional councils to investigate amalgamating, Otago regional councillor Michael Deaker says.
The Otago Regional Council's membership of regional economic development initiative Otago Forward hangs in the balance.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council "evicted" tenants over "petty issues" and held an injunction on a house for more than a year, the Queenstown District Court heard yesterday.
The Queenstown Lakes District had already secured 40 Environment Court hearing days for the first quarter of 2010, but it was not enough, solicitor Graeme Todd told the council's strategy committee yesterday.
The number of Dunedin City Council wards, community boards, and even the number of councillors will be argued next week, when the Local Government Commission visits for a hearing to decide the future of the city's voting system.
The Waitaki District Council has itself been caught with an illegal water connection in an investigation intended to catch people stealing water.
