Nelson City Council

Final Results

NELSON

Votes cast FOR the Proposal 10,536

Votes cast AGAINST the Proposal 7,984

Voting return (excluding special votes): 18,397 (51.64%)
Informal voting documents: 5
Blank voting documents: 32

TASMAN

 Votes cast FOR the Proposal 5,802

Votes cast AGAINST the Proposal 16,873

Voting return (excluding special votes): 22,563 (63.83%)
Informal voting documents: 5
Blank voting documents: 40

Read the full media release.

Introduction

Residents and ratepayers of Nelson City are being asked to vote in a poll on whether Nelson City and Tasman District should amalgamate into one unitary council. This page contains useful information about the voting process to help you make your decision.

The Local Government Commission (LGC) has proposed a detailed plan of how an amalgamated council would work in our region. The proposal is called ‘Reorganisation Scheme for the Union of Nelson City and Tasman District’ and is dated 30 January 2012. This document has taken into account submissions on an earlier proposal from 2011.

The final proposal details how the amalgamated council, the Nelson Tasman District Council, would function. The full proposal, along with other documents that will help inform your vote, can be found at www.lgc.govt.nz/nelsontasman

The voting process

Anyone over 18 who either lives in Nelson City Council or Tasman District Council areas or pays rates on a property in those areas is eligible to vote. But you must be enrolled to vote. You need to be enrolled on either the electoral roll – the same roll used in the general elections for parliament, or on the ratepayer elector rolls at either Nelson City or Tasman District Councils.

How do I vote?

Voting documents will be mailed to electors of Nelson City and Tasman District between Thursday 29 March 2012 and Wednesday 4 April 2012. Your completed voting documents must be received by the electoral officer before noon, Saturday, 21 April 2012 to count.

Once you’ve received your voting papers in the mail you can either post it back in the provided freepost envelope or you can drop it in to voting boxes which will be at the Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council headquarters. Because the voting papers need to be in the hands of the electoral officer by the deadline of noon on Saturday 21 April, if you’re posting you need to make sure you post it in time to get there.

If you’re a ratepayer in either council area but don’t live there, you are still eligible to vote, but you must enrol for the non-resident ratepayer electoral roll. You will then be able to vote by special vote up until closing of the poll on noon 21 April. Any special votes can be taken at either Nelson City Council or Tasman District Council up until that closing deadline. As with any election there are processes in place for voting if you’ll be out of the country.

For more information on the voting process or special votes, phone the Nelson City Council on 03 546 0200.

The result

The voting is being conducted using two separate polls run at the same time. One poll is for Nelson City Council electors, the other Tasman District Council electors. For the proposal to establish a Nelson Tasman District Council to be adopted, the majority of votes in each separate region (Nelson and Tasman) must vote in favour.

The vote results are binding and require over 50% of votes in both the current council areas to be in favour. If there is no majority vote in at least one of the polls then amalgamation won’t proceed and both councils will continue as they are currently as separate entities.

More resources

The Local Government Commission website contains the full proposal, along with other reports and documents to help inform you vote. Visit www.lgc.govt.nz/nelsontasman for more information.

Do you have questions about the proposal or voting process? A special website has been created with frequently asked questions regarding the proposed amalgmation. Askaboutamalgamation.co.nz aims to link the region’s residents and ratepayers to the available information and to answer questions that arise. Visit askaboutamalgamation.co.nz

The 17th March 2012 issue of Live Nelson contained a four page special insert about the proposed amalgamation. Click here to download the article. (1.2MB PDF)