Council firms up key elements of the 2023 – 2024 Annual Plan

Councillors will meet this week to adopt the 2023-2024 Annual Plan which has a proposed total rates increase of 6.8%.

The 2023-24 Annual Plan contains council's budget for the coming year and outlines what it will invest in and how it will pay for it.

If adopted at Wednesday's meeting, the overall rates increase will be 6.8%. The overall increase will vary due to the impact of the recent rating valuation of property undertaken by Quotable Value Limited.

The rates increase is slightly higher than the 5.4% signalled in the 2021–2031 Long Term Plan, reflecting the significantly higher interest and inflation rates.

Mayor Jamie Cleine says: “We are very aware that the rising cost of living is front of mind for so many people and we have tried hard to factor this in for the community, whilst balancing the need to deliver services.

“There were some costs that hadn’t been signalled in the existing Long Term Plan. These include ongoing flood recovery costs, rising costs for water and wastewater services, as well as a commitment towards Waka Kotahi’s safe speed limits around schools initiative.”

“We are absorbing an additional $650,000 for Westport water bulk flow metres and water treatment plant optimisation and investigation. This cost will be funded by debt/borrowing in 2023, with a rates increase likely to fund these costs in 2024.”

“Council also made an application to the Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF) for $1.71 million to assist in the installation/construction of effluent systems at the Punakaiki and Mokihinui campgrounds, reinstatement of the Tauranga Bay public toilets, and extending the carpark at Carter's Beach reserve.

Details of the funding split are to be determined as part of the application process. The application was submitted after the Draft Annual Plan was approved and subject to an ongoing approval process. Since we don’t know the outcomes of the application we have included different scenarios in our final Annual Plan for transparency and to include the financial implications of the different application outcomes.”

“This Annual Plan sets us up for a year of delivery. It means a rate rise and increasing our net debt to manage our costs in a challenging environment.  but it also enables us to shoulder a total capital spend of $28.8 million.

That’s a significant increase on the past two years. This cost is shared by council and various government agencies and will see some welcome investment in infrastructure such as roading, water and flood resilience,” says Jamie Cleine.

Once adopted, the 2023–2024 Annual Plan will come into effect from 1 July 2023.

ENDS-

For more information please contact: 
Mayor Jamie Cleine
[email protected]