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The second year of the local government term is usually the quiet before the storm of election year. Yet this year, public scrutiny of local government is more intense than it has ever been.
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_thumb.jpg "Photo Heather Spurway(2)") Ten thousand quakes and aftershocks in Christchurch, New Zealand, is a big enough deal to attract the whole world’s attention - and it has. Sadly it’s also furrowing the brows of those who lend money to our insurance companies. |
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There are potential issues for councils in Schedule 1, sub-section (k) of the Building Act 2004, and Shyrelle Mitchell of Heaney & Co, barristers and solicitors, says caution is needed in relation to a council’s legal liabilities and responsibilities.
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There’s a call to pay closer attention to insurance on residential property. Colin McCulloch, risk manager for JLT says people need to get the size of our property correct or you could end up under-insuring it. |
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There’s new scrutiny on the system of tendering that New Zealand councils operate under. The Contractors’ Federation says the system might be letting millions of dollars fall through the system.
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As we look forward to whatever 2012 has in store for us, most of us hope it will be a whole lot better than what was served up in 2011. NZ Local Goernment editor Graham Hawkes looks back on a year many in local government will want to forget. |
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It is often thought that donations to charities are not subject to GST. Tony Fuller from TaxTeam says this can be the case more often than not, but not exclusively.
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_thumb.jpg "Sarah May 2011 web(1)") It started as a downstream effect of the 2004 Manawatu floods, but ended up in a courtroom when Wanganui District Council found itself defending a claim for $2.5 million. Sarah Macky from Heaney & Co explains. |
 Outside of Canterbury, few people know exactly what it has been like to suffer three big quakes and thousands of aftershocks. There’s evidence many Christchurch people are feeling the strain, big-time. |
_thumb.jpg "EB1(2)") LGNZ chief executive Eugene Bowen has been thinking about amalgamation, local democracy, the power of the community and the links between central and local government. |
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