Will Little deliver
Radio NZ reports:
Wellington’s new Mayor says something has “gone seriously wrong” with council management processes that have allowed project costs to spiral out of control. …
Little said he would not freeze current initiatives – such as the Town Hall refurbishment – but projects needed to be reviewed and managed differently to protect ratepayers from ballooning costs.
In October 2023, councillors voted to continue work on the Town Hall despite projected costs reaching up to $329 million in the years following it’s closure in 2013 due to earthquake concerns.
“It’s making sure that the review processes – that we’ve got during the course of a project – are such that if we get to the point where you say ‘it’s a choice between writing off $50m spent or running the risk of another $200m’ actually we’re better off to write off the $50m and either start again or do something different” Little said.
It is good to see Little reject the sunk cost fallacy which is you must keep spending on a project whose costs have blown out, because of how much you have already spent. Let’s see if he can deliver though.
Last month I blogged on what Andrew was promising, and how we could judge if he has delivered. The summary is:
- Reducing the planned rates increase for next year from 12% to under 10%
- Reducing the planned rates increases for out years from 7% to under 5%
- Reducing the median time for a building consent from 10 days
- Increasing funding for community facilities in the LTP from $60.5m
- Improving the results of the annual residents survey from 23% who think WCC makes decisions in the best interests of the city
I hope he can achieve these.