The Prime Minister's put city and regional councils on notice - saying wasteful spending needs to stop

Chris Luxon has spoken at the Local Government New Zealand conference this afternoon.

He says rate payers expect councils to do things like picking up rubbish, fixing pipes and filling pot holes.

But he says other things aren't necessary, and rate payers don't expect to pay for a laundry list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance sheets across the country.