Tasman council's rivers team 'under-resourced'

Benchmarking of regional councils shows that Tasman is lagging behind its peers in river management resourcing, with a team about half the size of Marlborough and Gisborne.

Deputy mayor Brent Maru said river management was "one of the most talked about areas of concern" in the community.

He told Local Democracy Reporting that he thought Tasman's river team was under-resourced, but it was up to ratepayers to decide how much to invest.

"Resourcing in the river space is absolutely essential," he said.

"The expectations, [based] on the current size of the team we have, are unrealistic from us and the community."

Tasman District Council has held numerous workshops about its different work areas as it develops its plan for the 2027-37 decade.

Last week, the focus was on rivers and coastal structures, and their workshop material compared the district to similar councils in the river management space.

Tasman currently has allocation for five full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in river management, though one of those roles is currently vacant.

Marlborough and Gisborne – two other unitary councils with comparable populations and areas – both have nine FTEs.

Adjusted to FTEs per 10,000 residents, Marlborough was at 1.8, Gisborne at 1.7, and Tasman at 0.8.

Tasman also lagged when adjusted for FTEs per 1000 square kilometres, with its 0.5 trailing Marlborough's 0.7 and Gisborne's 1.1.

The workshop comes as Tasman continues recovering from the June-July 2025 floods and residents band together to demand better river management practices.

Tasman's "vast" river network stretched 14,300 kilometres, but the council only managed 285km, with just 60km of stop banks around Motueka, Riwaka, and the Waimea Plains.

While everyone in the district paid some form of river rate, the dollars only went towards that 285km – a fraction of the total river network.

Maru, who chaired the workshop, said that residents' expectations of what those rates fund, and the actual work being done, were "a mile apart".

While many always wanted more river work done, people were also struggling with rising rates, he added.

"Ultimately, it's up to the ratepayers or the community to decide how much you are willing to invest."

Roughly speaking, every additional $1 million in operating expenses, or $10 million in the capital budget, would add 1% to any future rates increase, he said.

While some proposed cutting staff to reduce council costs, given the rivers team currently had only four people, he thought they should be an exception.

Draft budget figures for the 10-year long-term plan had not yet been decided and, as just one of 15 votes around the table, Maru could not guarantee that more funding would be allocated.

"I personally think they are under-resourced, so it's up to at least another seven councillors around that table to agree with me to have any impact on that."

However, he added that "getting our rivers right" was a priority for all elected members.

In terms of absolute budgets, Tasman was broadly in line with one of the two councils but trailed the other.

Tasman's operating budget – which covers day-to-day expenses – was at $2.2 million, largely in line with Gisborne's $2m but trailing Marlborough's $6.5 million.

On a per-capita basis, that meant Marlborough spent more than three times as much as Tasman, and more than double on a per-square-kilometre basis.

As for capital budget – the allocation for installing new infrastructure – Tasman's was $6 million, ahead of Marlborough's $5m but behind Gisborne's $10m.

Still looking at capital costs, Tasman's spend on both a per capita and per square kilometre basis was just over half of Gisborne's.

The figures come from a draft river sector capability review from Te Uru Kahika – the partnership group of the country's 16 regional and unitary councils.

Draft budgetary decisions would be made before the end of the year, and residents will be consulted on the long-term plan proposal in the first half of 2027.