Douglas targets ‘inefficiency’

Press, 6 October 1988, Page 2

Douglas targets ‘inefficiency’

By

GLEN PERKINSON

Costly and inefficient local authorities were going to have to face up to change and become more accountable, said the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, yesterday. Local government inefficiency had a “huge impact on all business activity and could be a major disincentive to development,” he said. The first thing needing attention was the cost of regulatory requirements such as building codes On revenue-snaring, Mr

Douglas said the millions of dollars the Government gave to local government encouraged inefficiency. Because ratepayers received reduced demands from their local authority because of the impact of revenue-shar-ing, they might not have “bothered to exert adequate discipline over local-body spending.” “Local authority trading organisations have, for many years, been granted privileges not available to private businesses with which they compete,” Mr Douglas said.