A dispute between Regional Council candidates has been playing out on community forums and at Meet the Candidate events, centering on how much the Council spends on consultants.
Pamela Storey, the current Council Chair of the Waikato Regional council and Waikato Constituency Councillor, posted on the Raglan Noticeboard last weekend that figures used by the Rates Control Team were incorrect. She said the team had cited consultant costs of $16.9 million for 2023/24, when the actual figure was $793,000.
In her post, Storey raised concerns about misleading information and its impact on public trust.
In response, McGuire said his comments were based on “information available to him” and reflected his concern about what he described as excessive reliance on consultants. He said it was disappointing that his integrity had been questioned.
Storey did not include evidence in her post, but invited people to verify the numbers with the Council. When asked, the Regional Council’s communications team confirmed that consultancy spending in 2023/24 was $793,000, and in 2024/25 it was $1.33 million.
So where did the $16.9 million figure come from?
According to the Council, the error originated from a spreadsheet provided to a councillor last year. The spreadsheet listed contractor costs over $10,000, totalling $16.9 million, but was mistakenly labelled “Consultancy Spend.” The covering email explained the figures related to contractors rather than consultants, but the incorrect heading appears to have caused confusion.
The Council says councillors were advised of the clarification last week. It is not clear when or whether that correction was shared with candidates outside of Council.
While McGuire is not a current councillor, six members of his Rates Control team are.
Council clarification
- From Waikato Regional Council Communications:
- Consultancy spend recorded in 2023/24 was $793,000.
- Consultancy spend recorded in 2024/25 was $1.33 million.
- A full breakdown is available via LGOIMA response: https://core.opentext.eu/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?shortLink=3a97b18422c8a53f33923a1331ee25b446cf904c7f6ea574.
- Contracted services and consultancy fees are defined separately:
- Consultancy fees – professional advice (excluding legal representation).
- Contracted services – payments to external parties for service delivery.
The figures underline that the $16.9 million figure related to contracted services, not consultancy.