Councillors reveal financial interests

• Published date: 24 April 2024
• Author: Grace Odlum
• Publication title: Kapiti News

Elected members have been required to declare certain pecuniary (or financial) interests since 1968, but since 2022 councils must publish a register of all pecuniary benefits of all elected members to improve transparency and avoid any conflicts of interest

Sarah Wattie, Kāpiti Coast District Council’s governance and legal services manager and registrar, said a conflict of interest arose when two different interests overlapped and where a person’s duties or responsibilities to a public entity could be affected by some other interest or duty.

“There are two types of conflict of interest: pecuniary and non-pecuniary,” Wattie said.

“A pecuniary interest means a matter or activity of financial benefit to the elected member.”

The 2022 change was made when the Local Government Register Amendment Bill enacted changes to the Local Government Act.

“The aim of the changes was to record members’ interest so as to provide transparency and to strengthen public trust and confidence in local government processes and decision-making.”

This year’s pecuniary interests report shows the majority of Kāpiti’s elected members own at least one property in the district, except councillors Glen Cooper, Sophie Handford, Rob Kofoed and Nigel Wilson.

Liz Koh owns two properties: a family home in Te Horo and a rental property in Paraparaumu.

Jocelyn Prvanov also owns two properties — a family home in Waikanae Beach and a rental property in Waikanae — along with two rental properties outside the district in Levin and Island Bay, Wellington.

Kathy Spiers declared that she owned a third of a family home in Paraparaumu Beach.

Four elected members — Mayor Janet Holborow, Cooper, Kofoed and Koh — also have beneficial interests in their family trusts.

Handford declared that she had been awarded a Prime Minister’s Scholarship for Asia — and, similarly, last year she declared she had travelled to...